THE  ITALIANS 

IN  MILWAUKEE 

WISCONSIN 


GENERAL  SURVEY 


BY 

G.  LA  PIANA 
I9!5 


THE  ITALIANS 

IN  MILWAUKEE 

WISCONSIN 


GENERAL  SURVEY 


PREPARED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF  THE 
ASSOCIATED  CHARITIES 


BY 

G.  LA  PIANA 

1915 


SRLF 
YRL 


oc/(755S5g^ 


INDEX 


I.     THE  ITALIAN  COLONY  IN  MILWAUKEE: 

1.  The  Italian  Population, 

2.  Occupation  and  Salaries,     . 

3.  Woman  and  Cliild  Labor,    . 

4.  Housing, 

5.  Boarders, 

6.  Food  and  Household  Expenses, 

7.  Health  Conditions,       .... 

8.  Diseases  of  the  Children,     . 

9.  Hospital  Care,       .        .        ;        .        . 

10.  Education, 

IL  Delinquency, 


page  5 
page  7 
page  11 
page  14 
page  16 
page  19 
page  26 
page  30 
page  36 
page  38 
page  44 


II.     PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  CHARITIES: 

12.     Public  Charities,    .... 

a.  The  ItaUans  in  Almshouses, 

b.  The  County  Poor  Department, 

c.  Mothers'  Pension, 


13.  Private  Charities, 

a.    Italian  Mutual  Benefit  Societies, 

14.  The  Milwaukee  Associated  Charities  in  Relation  to 

Italians, 

a.  General  Information,     . 

b.  General  Statistics, 

c.  Nativity  and  Province, 

d.  Causes  of  Need, 

e.  Aid  Given, 

f.  Type  of  Cases, 

g.  General  Occupation, 

h.  Years  of  Residence  in  the   United  States, 

i.  Ability  to  Speak  English  and  Citizenship, 

15.  Appendix — The  Italians  on  Farming, 


,  page  59 
page  59 
page  60 
page  62 

page  64 
page  64 

page  67 
page  67 
page  69 
page  71 
page  72 
page  74 
page  76 
page  79 
page  80 
page  81 

page  83 


I. 

THE  ITALIAN  COLONY  IN  MILWAUKEE 


I. 

THE  ITALIAN  POPULATION 

ACCORDING  to  the  last  U.  S.  census  for  the  year  1910, 
the  Italian  population  of  Milwaukee  numbered  at  that 
time  4,685,  of  which  3,554  were  born  in  Italy  and  1,131 
were  born  in  America.  The  increase  of  the  colony  has  been 
constant  in  these  last  five  years,  therefore,  including  the  large 
floating  element  of  single  men,  the  present  population  of  the 
colony  can  be  estimated  at  about  9,000. 

The  majority  of  the  Italians  live  in  the  Third  Ward,  in 
the  district  enclosed  by  Michigan  Street,  Broadway,  the  river 
and  the  lake.  Most  of  them  originally  came  from  Sicily.  Some 
of  them  (nearly  all  Sicilians),  have  recently  moved  northward, 
to  the  point  where  Milwaukee,  Jefferson,  Jackson  and  Van 
Buren  Streets  open  into  North  Water  Street,  bordering  the 
river.  Another  little  settlement  is  on  the  South  Side,  in  Bay 
View,  composed  principally  of  Italians  from  Central  and  South- 
ern Italy.  Many  others  are  scattered  through  the  city,  and 
most  of  them  are  from  Tuscany  or  from  other  northern  provinces 
of  the  Italian  Kingdom.  The  first  of  the  settlement  came  over 
about  twenty  years  ago,  the  nucleus  being  a  group  of  Sicilians 
from  the  province  of  Palermo,  who  came  here  from  the  colony 
of  Chicago,  and  settled  among  the  Irish  in  the  Third  Ward.  Lit- 
tle by  little  the  Italians  took  the  place  of  the  Irish  who  left  this 
part  of  the  district,  which  is  now  almost  entirely  Italian. 

Among  the  Sicilians  there  are  three  distinct  groups;  the 
first,  which  is  oldest  and  largest,  is  formed  by  natives  of  the 
Province  of   Palermo,   the  greater  part  from   the  villages  and 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

towns  scattered  along  the  coast  from  Palermo  to  Termini,  as 
Porticello,  Santa  Flavia,  Sant'Elia,  Aspra,  Bagheria  and  so  on. 

A  second  group  comparatively  large,  comes  from  the 
Province  of  Messina,  especially  from  the  towns  and  villages 
along  the  coast  from  Tusa  to  Milazzo;  as  Santo  Stefano  di 
Camastra,  Sant'Agata  di  Militello,  Naso,  ('.apo  d'Orlando,  and 
Milazzo. 

A  third  group  is  composed  of  natives  from  the  Province 
of  Trapani  and  from  the  little  island  of  Marettimo.  There  are 
a  few  from  the  Province  of  Girgenti,  and  a  very  small  number 
from  the  Province  of  Siracusa. 

The  Italians  from  the  provinces  of  Southern  and  Central 
Italy,  came  chiefly  from  the  Puglie  (Provinces  of  Bari,  Foggia) 
Abbruzzi,  (Prov.  Chieti  and  Aquila),  and  Campania  (Prov. 
Naples,  Salerno  and  Avelline).  The  group  of  Tuscans  came 
almost  entirely  from  the  country  between  Florence  and  Pisa. 
According  to  their  places  of  origin,  the  Italian  population  of 
Milwaukee  would  be  divided  as  follows: 

Sicilians — 65  per  cent. 

From  South  Italy — 20  per  cent. 

From  Central  and  North  Italy — 15  per  cent. 


II. 

OCCUPATIONS  AND  SALARIES 

THE  majority  of  Italians  of  Milwaukee  worked  in  the  fields 
in  Italy,  either  on  their  own  land  or  that  which  they 
rented,  and  some  worked  out  by  the  day.  Those  who 
came  from  the  villages  and  towns  on  the  seacoast  of  Sicily, 
were  used  to  work  in  fruit  gardens  or  vineyards,  and  many  of 
them  were  expert  pruners,  cultivators  of  fruit  trees,  or  excel- 
lent horticulturists.  Others  who  came  from  districts  of  the 
interior  of  Sicily,  or  from  the  provinces  of  South  Italy,  were 
ordinarily  trained  to  the  cultivation  of  grain  and  various  cereals. 
They  had  a  knowledge  of  sheep  raising  and  were  skilled  in  the 
care  of  animals,  also  were  good  horticulturists.  A  great  num- 
ber of  those  coming  from  the  towns  of  Sicily  were  fishermen, 
owning  a  small  boat  or  working  as  help  in  another  boat,  or 
finally  renting  a  boat  from  an  owner  who  ordinarily  had  several. 
They  were  paid  by  the  day,  regardless  of  profit.  Still  others 
bought  fish  from  the  fishermen  and  sold  it  in  the  markets  at 
Palermo,  Messina  or  neighboring  districts. 

A  considerable  number  of  people  coming  from  every  town 
and  province,  and  almost  all  from  Tuscany  and  North  Italy, 
were  in  their  own  country  tradesmen,  as  butchers,  bakers, 
barbers,  tailors,  masons,  shoemakers,  carpenters  and  drivers. 
A  very  small  percentage  were  professional  men  and  the  remnants, 
about  10  per  cent  of  the  total,  were  without  a  definite  occu- 
pation. 

Therefore  the  general  affirmation  that  the  majority  of 
the  Italian  immigrants  in  Milwaukee  were  without  a  definite 
occupation  in  Italy,  is  untrue.  The  truth  is  that  arriving  in 
America,  many  in  hopes  of  improving  their  condition,  or  because 
work  along  their  line  is  difficult  to  find,  accept  the  first  work 
that  comes  their  way,  and  are  generally  reduced  to  laboring 
with  shovel  and  pick  in  the  streets  or  on  the  railroad. 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Almost  all  of  those  who  were  farmers  or  farmworkers  in 
Italy,  become  common  laborers  in  America  and  are  forced  to 
do  the  hardest  work  in  the  foundries,  coal  yards,  docks,  tracks 
and  so  on.  Also  many  who  had  trades,  as  shoemakers,  masons, 
and  tailors,  are  reduced  to  the  same  conditions;  because  of  ig- 
norance of  the  English  language,  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
belonging  to  the  Unions,  and  finally  because  of  the  difference 
in  American  methods  and  machinery,  they  must  begin  anew 
their  education  and  meantime  they  work  wherever  they  can, 
to  earn  their  bread.  Therefore,  in  the  Italian  colony  in  Mil- 
waukee, we  find  almost  75  per  cent  of  socalled  "common  labor- 
ers," and  only  15  per  cent  are  in  trades  or  professions,  while 
the  remaining  10  per  cent  is  formed  by  those  engaged  as  saloon 
keepers,  grocers,  or  collectors  of  garbage,  etc.  The  comparison 
between  the  occupations  of  the  same  people  first  in  Italy  and 
now  in  America,  is  very  interesting,  and  therefore  we  will  con- 
sider them  in  the  following  table: 

Occupations:  In  Italy 

Farmers  or  farmworkers,  .        .        .  50.   per  cent 

Fishermen  or  fishtrademen,  .  25 .         " 
Various  trades  (shoemakers,  masons,  etc.),    20.        " 

Saloonkeepers,  grocers,  etc.,  .                .  0.50    " 

Professional  men,  0 .  02    " 

Without  definite  occupation,  .        .  4.48    " 


In  Amei 

ica 

5. 

pel 

cent 

0.05 

" 

10. 

a 

10. 

« 

0.02 

'• 

74.93 

" 

100.  100. 

Many  of  these  men  without  a  definite  occupation  work  in 
foundries  or  steel  works,  especially  with  the  AUis-Chalmers 
Co.,  Falk  Manufacturing  Co.,  The  Rolling  Mills  of  Bay  View; 
some  in  tanneries,  especially  with  the  Pfister  &  Vogel  Co.,  and 
others  with  the  electric  car  lines  and  Gas  Light  Company  of  the 
city.  Many  work  for  contractors  in  repairing  and  maintaining 
public  roads,  and  a  greater  number  on  the  railroads  or  in  the 
coal  docks;  few  do  special  work  in  factories,  and  a  small  num- 
ber are  employed  in  restaurants  and  hotels. 

The  wages  of  all  these  workers  amount  to  a  maximum  of 
S2.00  and  a  minimum  of  SI. 50  per  day;    the  maximum  earned 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

by  laborers  in  foundries  and  tanneries,  who  ordinarily  do  piece 
work,  and  the  minimum  by  those  who  labor  on  the  streets  or 
railroads.  Some  who  are  employed  by  the  city  to  collect 
garbage,  are  paid  S3. 00  a  day,  which  includes  the  maintenance 
of  a  horse  and  a  wagon. 

On  this  basis  an  Italian  laborer  would  earn  an  average  of 
$600  a  year;  but  the  Italian  laborer  rarely  works  all  the  year; 
he  may  calculate  on  not  more  than  nine  months  of  work  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances,  and  only  four  or  five  months 
in  hard  times,  therefore,  the  average  earning  of  this  class  of 
laborers  is  from  S300  to  55400  a  year.  The  fact  that  Italian 
laborers  do  not  work  all  the  year  is  not  an  Italian  peculiarity; 
it  is  not  a  habit  or  an  effect  of  laziness  as  is  generally  believed 
in  America.  Laborers  worked  steadily  all  the  year  in  Italy, 
and  they  will  do  the  same  in  America  when  they  find  work  to 
be  done.  But  they  do  not  find  steady  work  for  many  rea- 
sons, principally  because  of  the  kind  of  work  they  do.  Italian 
farmers,  who  do  not  go  to  work  in  the  country,  look  for  work 
in  the  big  industrial  cities  like  Milwaukee.  With  the  approach 
of  the  winter  the  demand  ceases  in  certain  branches  of  industry 
and  the  number  of  laborers  is  reduced.  Work  in  the  streets 
and  on  railroads  is  stopped  almost  entirely  and  the  first  to  be 
sacrificed  are  the  Italians.  In  the  same  way  when  work  begins 
again,  they  are  the  last  to  benefit  by  it.  Besides  this  class  of 
workmen,  which  forms  the  bulk  of  the  Italian  colony,  there  is 
the  numerous  class  of  other  Italians,  who  as  tradesmen  or  pro- 
fessionals deal  with  those  in  the  colony.  These  people  are 
generally  in  better  condition  than  the  laborers,  sometimes  even 
prosperous,  but  now  there  are  more  tradesmen  than  the  colony 
requires,  and  even  groceries  and  saloons  do  not  give  remarkable 
profits  to  their  owners. 

There  are  in  Milwaukee  45  groceries  owned  by  Italians, 
and  38  of  them  crowded  into  three  or  four  streets  of  the  Third 
Ward.  Many  of  them  have  one  small,  unsanitary  room  with  a 
few  boxes  of  macaroni  and  a  quantity  of  cans  of  tomatoes, 
which  form  all  their  stock,  besides  oranges  or  bananas  displayed 
in  the  window.     Generally  women  attend  to  the  light  business, 

9 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

while  iheir  husbands  are  at  work  on  the  tracks  or  in  the  foun- 
dries. Only  three  or  four  groceries  have  a  large  stock,  and  do 
a  good  amount  of  business,  but  the  system  of  giving  large  credit 
to  their  customers,  especially  during  periods  of  idleness,  makes 
development  of  their  trade  on  a  large  scale  impossible.  Better 
conditions  we  find  among    saloonkeepers,  who  give  no  credit. 

In  the  Third  Ward  there  are  29  Italian  saloons,  12  of 
which  are  in  4  blocks  on  Huron  Street,  and  14  are  in  the  other 
wards  of  the  city.  People  engaged  in  other  business  are  less 
numerous,  although  almost  every  line  is  represented.  Italian 
bakeries,  meat  markets,  shoe  repairing  shops,  barber  shops, 
are  operated  among  the  Italians  in  the  Third  Ward.  Very  few 
Italians  are  in  business  out  of  the  colony.  The  only  line  in 
which  the  Italian  is  well  represented  is  the  wholesale  fruit 
commission  houses. 


10 


III. 

WOMAN  AND  CHILD  LABOR 

WITH  regard  to  this  question,  the  conditions  of  the  Italian 
colony  of  Milwaukee  are  far  better  than  those  of  many 
other  Italian  colonies  in  the  United  States. 

The  greater  part  of  the  Italian  women  of  the  colony  at- 
tend to  household  duties  in  the  home,  and  do  not  go  to  factories. 
This  is  also  in  accord  with  the  customs  of  Italian  families. 

A  certain  number  take  outside  work  into  the  home,  gen- 
erally sewing  and  hand  embroidering  for  factories,  but,  either 
because  the  work  is  scarce,  or  because  it  is  poorly  remunerated, 
the  number  of  women  who  work  in  this  manner  is  very  limited. 
Of  the  149  cases  investigated,  in  only  five  families  were  there 
women  who  thus  contributed  to  the  family  funds,  and  of  these 
women  the  most  highly  paid,  a  woman  who  did  beautiful  hand 
embroidery,  received  only  $5^  per  week,  and  the  most  poorly 
paid  was  a  mother  with  two  daughters,  who,  for  mending  sacks 
at  2  cents  each,  could  not  make  more  than  $3.00  per  week. 
If  work  were  more  steady  and  better  paid,  a  larger  number  of 
Italian  women  might  devote  more  hours  per  day  to  sewing  and 
embroidering,  and  so  assist  the  family,  especially  when  the 
husband  is  out  of  work. 

In  the  larger  cities  of  Italy  there  are  to  be  found  clubs  of 
wealthy  women,  whose  sole  object  is  to  find  work  of  this  kind 
for  able  and  needy  women,  with  great  advantage  to  the  person 
who  orders  the  work  and  the  one  who  executes  it,  because,  by 
eliminating  the  middleman,  on  one  hand  the  buyer  pays  lower 
prices  than  those  in  the  shops,  and  these  women  workers  receive 
a  greater  compensation  than  that  which  would  be  paid  by  the 
merchant.  One  organization  of  such  a  nature  was  started  in 
Milwaukee,  but  was  not  successful. 

Most  of  the  widows  who  have  no  small  children,  and  most 
of  the  girls  who  are  over  15  years  of  age,  work.  The  former 
generally  do  hard  work  at  general  cleaning;    the  latter,  who  for 


T}IE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

i  the  most  part  have  attended  American  schools,  and  have  thereby 
become  more  or  less  Americanized,  prefer  working  in  tailor  shops, 
dressmaking  establishments,  department  stores,  or  factories. 
But  here  also  the  number  is  relatively  limited,  either  because 
many  Sicilian  families  do  not  wish  to  have  their  daughters  work 
among  strangers,  exposed  to  danger,  and  prefer  to  keep  them  at 
home,  or  because,  as  a  rule,  Sicilian  girls  marry  early  and  at 
the  age  of  16  or  17  have  families  of  their  ovk'n.  in  the  factories 
the  girls  earn  from  S4  to  $5  a  week.  There  are  very  few  Italian 
girls  employed  as  servants  in  American  homes,  and  these  few 
are  without  parents  in  iWilwaukee  and  are  completely  Ameri- 
canized, so  much  so  that  they  hardly  speak  Italian. 

The  law  that  compels  children  under  14  to  attend  school 
is  religiously  observed  here  in  the  Italian  colony,  and  the  Tru- 
ancy Department  and  the  Juvenile  Protective  Association  have 
very  little  to  do  in  the  Italian  colony  with  regard  to  this  matter. 
The  only  work  the  Italian  children  do  is  selling  newspapers  after 
school  hours,  and  odd  jobs  around  the  house. 

The  condition  of  the  boys  above  14  years  of  age  is  some- 
^       what  different.     On  quitting  school  they  are  sent  to  work.     Al- 
though in  Milwaukee  there  are  no  canneries  as  in  the  East,  nor 
glass  factories  as  in  Pittsburgh  and  Sharpsburgh,  which  employ 
children  to  do  horrible  work,  still  here  the  boys  work  quite  hard. 
/^Fortunately    many    of    the    boys,    unlike    their   fathers,    speak 
/  English,  and  are  apprenticed  at  some  trade  or  specialize  along 
\  some  other  line  of  work.     The  Italian  lads  prefer  to  work  as 
(tailors,  barbers,  and  the  more  intelligent  as  mechanics  in  the 
j  different  factories.     Of  course  there  are  cases  in  which,  either 
]  through    parental     neglect    or    extreme    necessity,    promising 
,  youths  are  forced  to  do  manual  labor  in  the  streets,  and  so  be- 
'  come  common  laborers,  as  their  fathers.     Just  recently  a  lad 
of  14  was  made  to  quit  school  before  the  close  of  the  school  year 
and  sent  to  work  on  the  railroad  tracks  as  water  boy.     The  boy 
is  an  orphan  and  the  brother  who  has  charge  of  him  has  a  large 
family  to  support. 

At  the  Continuation  School,  so  useful  to  teach  a  trade  to 
boys,  up  to  now  tliere  have  t3eeiT~no  Italians,  and  the  knowledge 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

concerning  the  school  is  negHgible  in  the  colony.  In  the  149 
families  mentioned  above,  there  were  52  boys  or  girls  over  14 
years  of  age  not  married,  distributed  among  33  families.  Out 
of  that  number  only  7  girls  and  16  boys  were  working  in  factories 
or  elsewhere.  The  others,  mostly  girls,  remained  at  home 
with  their  mothers. 

One  of  the  most  frequent  occupations  of  Italian  boys  is 
to  clean  stables,  the  horses  and  wagons  belonging  to  their 
fathers;  some  go  out  in  the  morning  selling  fruits  and  vegetables 
from  house  to  house,  others  are  employed  as  messenger  boys 
either  for  private  individuals  or  stores.  The  earnings  of  these 
children  amount  to  SI  and  sometimes  S2  per  week. 


i{ 


IV. 

HOUSING 

THE  Third  Ward  in  its  lower  part  is  almost  on  a  level  with 
the  river  and  the  lake.  Formerly  it  was  marshland, 
and  even  today  the  subsoil  is  a  watery  mass  solidified 
by  a  base  of  pile  work.  The  district  is  near  the  harbor  and  bor- 
ders the  river  and  railway  station,  and  is  more  adapted  for 
business  houses  than  for  dwellings.  In  fact,  day  after  day 
houses  are  disappearing  to  give  way  to  big  iron  and  concrete 
factories.  In  ten  years  this  section  will  be  a  distinctly  business 
district,  and  the  Italians  will  be  forced  to  move  away.  In  the 
meantime  the  owners,  anticipating  this  change,  naturally  have 
no  desire  to  improve  the  houses,  which  are  old,  dilapidated  and 
insanitary,  but  they  demand  a  rent  according  to  the  location, 
wherein  lies  the  value  of  the  property. 

That  district  should  be  given  scientific  attention  by  the 
municipal  authorities.  If  the  housing  laws  were  lived  up  to 
and  modified,  the  desired  change  would  undoubtedly  be  hastened. 
I  The  stables  are  numerous,  often  adjoining  the  houses,  and, 
especially  in  summer,  breeding  swarms  of  flies  and  insects. 
Four  times  as  many  people  as  should  be  permitted,  are  often 
crowded  into  a  given  space.  Considering  this,  the  fact  is  clear 
that  the  unhygienic  condition  of  the  district,  populated  almost 
exclusively  by  the  Italians,  is  brought  about  not  entirely  through 
faults  of  their  own.  The  streets  being  the  center  of  the  traffic, 
are  muddy  in  winter  and  dusty  in  summer;  here  the  children 
play.  The  air  is  heavy  and  unhealthy  with  vapors  from  the 
lake  and  river,  smoke  from  chimneys  and  trains,  gas  from  the 
tanks,  odors  and  insects  from  the  stables,  and  the  crowding  to- 
gether of  a  population  of  workmen  who  often  have  no  conveni- 
ences for  cleanliness. 

This  may  not  excuse  the  lack  of  cleanliness,  but  explains 
it  in  a  measure.     The  majority  of  these  Italians  come  from  rural 

14 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

districts  of  Sicily,  where  the  conditions  and  cHmate  permit 
them  to  live  in  the  open  air  and  sunshine,  and  then  being  trans- 
planted into  quite  different  conditions,  they  find  difficulty  in 
adapting  themselves  to  the  requirements  of  the  life  of  a  great 
industrial  center.  The  mistake  the  Italians  make  is  crowding 
together  in  this  one  district,  where  healthy  conditions  are  im- 
possible. However,  the  present  statistics  are  not  altogether 
discouraging.  A  diligent  investigation  of  149  Italian  families 
which  have  appealed  to  the  Associated  Charities,  and,  of  course, 
among  the  poorest  of  the  colony,  reveals  the  following: 

87  houses  found  in  good  condition  of  cleanliness; 
19  houses  found  in  fair  condition; 
28  houses  found  in  bad  condition. 

In  15  cases  uncleanliness  v^as  temporary  and  visitors' 
work  brought  improvement,  and  only  13  are  found  to  be  habitu- 
ally dirty  and  disorderly.  The  fact  that  60  per  cent  are  very 
clean  and  only  10  per  cent  habitually  dirty,  is  a  commendable 
record  for  the  peasants  of  any  nationality,  especially  so  when 
constrained  to  live  in  the  execrable  conditions  of  the  Third 
Ward.  The  rent  that  the  Italians  pay  is  exorbitant,  consider- 
ing the  condition  of  the  houses.  For  the  above-mentioned  149 
families  we  find  the  following  figures: 


Average 


S12,00 

For  a  laborer  who  earns  from  S45  to  S50  per  month  in 
normal  times,  and  is  without  work  for  three  or  four  months  every 
year,  $12  is  an  exorbitant  rent.  On  a  wage  of  S400  a  year 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances  $144,  a  third  of  the 
whole,  is  a  heavy  rent,  for  a  man  who  must  support  a  large  fam- 
ily and  sometimes  provide  for  old  parents  left  in  Italy.  There- 
fore, to  earn  more,  most  of  the  Italians  adopt  the  plan  of  keeping 
boarders. 

15 


From 

More 

Monthly  Rent  Less  Than 

$10  to 

than 

Un- 

$10.00: 

$15 

$15 

known 

No.  of 

Families,           71 

51 

14 

3 

V. 
BOARDERS 

IT  is  necessary  to  consider  that  in  the  rural  districts  of  Sicily 
and  Southern  Italy,  the  custom  of  keeping  boarders  is  un- 
known. Generally  strangers  are  not  admitted  into  the  fam- 
ily circle;  in  exceptional  cases  hospitality  is  for  a  short  period 
and  many  precautions  are  taken  against  slander.  The  fact  of 
having  boarders  (which  means  other  men  in  the  house  besides 
husband,  father  or  brothers),  is  something  new  for  the  Italian 
women  who  come  to  America,  just  as  it  is  a  new  experience  for 
men  to  live  under  the  same  roof  with  women  not  of  their  family. 
This  new  arrangement  has  a  strong  influence  on  their  daily  life. 
Finding  boarders  is  an  easy  matter,  as  a  great  part  of  the  Italian 
emigration  is  formed  of  unmarried  men,  or  those  who  have 
left  wives  and  children  in  Italy,  and  therefore  are  boarding  in 
other  families.  Considering  the  relative  difference  in  size,  Mil- 
waukee probably  has  the  same  unhygienic,  immoral,  deplorable 
conditions  resulting  from  overcrowding,  as  found  in  New  York 
and  Chicago.  In  the  same  149  families  we  have  found  the  fol- 
lowing conditions: 


Number  of 
Boarders : 

With  1  or 
2  Boarders 

With  3 
or  4 

With  5 
or  More 

Without 
Boarders 

Average  of 
149  Families 

Number  of 
Families: 

33 

20 

7 

89 

40 
per  cent 

This  is  an  average  of  the  families  who  for  various  reasons 
have  appealed  to  the  Associated  Charities,  who  have  small 
houses  and  are  keeping  boarders  not  as  a  business,  but  as  a  help 
towards  paying  the  rent.  The  families  with  a  great  number 
of  boarders  are  the  most  prosperous  among  laborers  and  never 

16 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

need  assistance.  Therefore,  the  percentage  of  ItaHan  famihes 
who  keep  boarders  is  much  more  than  40  per  cent. 

The  average  rent  is  from  S2.50  to  S3. 50  a  month  for  a  bed, 
two  or  three  in  a  room,  washing  (one  pair  of  drawers  a  week 
and  a  pair  of  sheets  a  month),  Hght,  heat  and  often  the  use  of 
the  kitchen.  The  food  they  provide  themselves,  cooking  and 
eating  it  at  home.  There  are  some  boarding  houses  in  which 
they  pay  less,  even  $1.50  a  month,  but  the  crowding  together  of 
the  people  under  most  unhygienic  conditions,  calls  for  a  strict 
intervention  of  the  health  department. 

The  custom  of  three  or  four  men  joining  together  to  rent 
and  furnish  a  house,  as  frequently  the  Slavs  do,  does  not  exist 
among  Italians  in  Milwaukee,  nor  should  this  plan  be  recom- 
mended, as  sanitary  conditions  found  in  such  cases  are  deplor- 
able. From  this  point  of  view  a  boarding  house  with  one  re-- 
sponsible  housekeeper  is  better,  though  it  may  have  serious 
moral  consequences. 

The  boarders  may  be  divided  into  two  classes: 

(1)  Young  and  unmarried — 

(2)  Mature  age  and   married,   but  who  have  left  wives  and 
children  in  Italy. 

In  a  house  where  there  is  a  woman  and  girls  of  twelve 
years  or  more,  boarders  are  always  dangerous,  but  more  so  in 
the  second  class  than  in  the  first.  The  reason  is  evident. 
Young  men  generally  adapt  themselves  more  readily  to  Amer- 
ican customs,  learning  English  quickly,  and  becoming  acquainted 
with  girls  of  other  nationalities,  so  find  outside  diversion. 
They  rarely  pay  attention  to  the  housekeeper,  who  is  often  not 
very  attractive,  because  prematurely  aged  with  hard  work  and 
too  many  children,  but  if  there  are  marriageable  daughters  in 
the  house,  the  situation  changes,  and  a  love  affair  often  hap- 
pens which  generally  culminates  in  a  marriage.  But  with  older 
and  especially  married  men  the  situation  has  a  different  aspect; 
usually  they  never  learn  English,  or  only  a  few  words  for  their 
work,  and  so  never  become  acquainted  with  people  of  other 

17 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

nationalities.  This  forces  them  to  seek  the  companionship  of 
their  own  race,  and  naturally  they  turn  to  those  within  reach, 
the  wife  and  daughters  of  the  man  who  gives  them  lodging. 

In  Sicily  it  is  dangerous  and  sometimes  almost  impossible 
for  a  stranger  to  become  very  intimate  in  any  household,  be- 
cause jealousy  and  suspicion  are  so  common  among  the  Sicilians. 
But  in  American  cities,  the  necessity  of  life  in  common,  their 
restricted  social  pleasures  and  continual  contact,  make  such 
intimacy  comparatively  easy  for  the  boarder.  Men  accustomed 
to  family  life  who  have  no  outside  diversion,  find  the  temptation 
difficult  to  resist,  and  there  is  rarely  a  case  of  a  boarder  whose 
wife  is  still  in  Italy  and  who  is  living  in  a  house  with  young 
women,  that  has  not  had  serious  consequences;  families  have 
been  ruined  and  faithful  wives  in  Italy  have  been  abandoned. 

Most  of  these  facts  remain  buried  in  the  secrecy  of  the 
family  or  perhaps  known  to  only  a  few  friends,  in  order  to 
prevent  scandal  or  acts  of  vengeance.  In  the  Italian  colony 
of  Milwaukee  the  most  noteworthy  case  of  this  kind  is  that  of 
a  boarder  35  years  old,  who  had  sexual  relation  with  a  girl 
thought  to  be  twelve,  who  became  a  mother.  It  was  taken  to 
court,  but  the  girl  was  found  to  be  fourteen,  and  so  they  were 
married.  The  occurrences  that  tend  toward  the  breaking  up 
of  families  and  the  perversion  of  coming  generations  are  many 
more  numerous  than  one  believes,  and  they  should  claim 
the  attention  of  the  associations  which  aim  to  raise  the  level  of 
social  and  moral  conditions  among  the  Italians  of  the  poorest 
classes,  by  readjusting  their  mode  of  living  in  America.  From 
this  point  of  view  that  of  boarders  is  one  of  the  most  important 
and  complicated  problems. 


18 


VI. 
FOOD  AND  HOUSEHOLD  EXPENSES 

IN  normal  times,  the  food  of  the  Italian  immigrants  in  Mil- 
waukee is  apparently  better  than  that  to  which  they  were 
accustomed  in  their  country.  They  have  meat  and  potatoes 
more  frequently,  but  less  fruit,  vegetables  and  cereals,  which, 
with  macaroni  and  wheat  bread,  form  the  ordinary  diet  in  the 
rural  districts  of  Sicily.  Generally  the  families  of  workmen  in 
Sicily  have  meat  only  on  Sunday,  but  they  use  eggs  largely, 
because  almost  every  family  in  the  villages  has  chickens.  Fruit 
of  every  kind  grows  abundantly  in  Sicily  and  even  arid  moun- 
tains are  cultivated  by  the  industrious  Sicilian  countrymen, 
with  large  plantations  of  cactus,  the  fruit  of  which  ripens  in 
the  early  fall  and  is  very  delicious  and  nutritious.  Fruit  is 
cheap,  especially  in  villages  far  from  the  cities,  and  in  the  country 
a  bunch  of  ten  big  cactus  fruit  costs  only  a  cent.  Besides, 
almost  every  family  owns  a  little  piece  of  land  on  which  fruit 
trees  and  greens  are  cultivated  for  family  use.  This  simple 
diet,  accompanied  by  life  in  the  open  air  and  the  vigorous  work 
in  the  fields,  which  is  done  almost  entirely  by  hand,  makes  the 
Sicilian  peasants  healthy  and  strong. 

In  Milwaukee,  instead  of  having  fruit  and  greens,  which 
are  too  expensive,  they  learn  to  substitute  meat;  but  as  this 
also  is  high,  they  use  largely  potatoes,  which  are  more  satisfying 
than  nutritious.  Macaroni,  preferred  to  any  other  dish,  costs 
too  much  when  seasoned  with  tomatoes  and  oil,  which  are 
luxuries  in  Milwaukee  for  the  laboring  people,  and  they  have  to 
be  educated  to  cheaper  methods  of  preparation  of  this  material 
food. 

According  to  the  diagram  compiled  by  the  Associated 
Charities  of  Buffalo,  and  adapted  by  the  Milwaukee  Associated 
Charities,  a  normal  family  of  a  wage-earner,  consisting  of  mother, 
father  and  six  children  is  not  able  to  live  in  reasonably  decent 
condition  for  less  than  S71.33  a  month,  as  in  the  following  table: 

19 


THH    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


House  Rent,       .... 

.       S  9.50 

Food, 

37.40 

Heating, 

3.50 

Household  Expenses, 

3.13 

Insurance,  

1.60 

Car  Fare, 

1 .  20 

Clothing, 

15.00 

$71.33 

Italian  families  spend  much  less  than  that.  According 
to  the  given  table  (Rent — Page  15),  it  would  seem  that  they 
paid  more  than  S9.50  for  average  rent,  but  as  we  have  observed, 
those  families  who  pay  more,  keep  boarders,  which  reduces  the 
expense.  In  regard  to  heating,  the  Italians  save  something  on 
the  given  figure.  During  hard  times  of  no  work,  they  collect  a 
winter  supply  of  wood  from  the  old  houses  which  are  continu- 
ally being  torn  down  in  the  Third  Ward.  They  make  very  little 
use  of  ordinary  insurance,  as  almost  all  belong  to  the  Italian 
Mutual  Benefit  Societies,  paying  fees  from  $12  to  $15  a  year. 
In  the  last  year  it  has  been  found  that  American  Insurance 
Companies  have  insured  some  Italians  and  their  children. 

Carfare  is  generally  wanted,  because  of  the  distance  to 
their  work,  which  makes  that  unavoidable.  The  cost  of  clothes 
is  also  less  than  the  figure  given. 

The  food  expenditure  for  a  family  of  8  persons,  regardless 
of  nationality,  in  the  above  list  of  the  Milwaukee  Charities,  is  di- 
vided as  follows: 


Man — Weekly  Expense,    . 

$1.75 

Woman — Weekly  Expense, 

1.38 

Boy  from  14  to  16,    . 

1.38 

Girl  from  14  to  16,     . 

1.21 

Boy  from  10  to  13,    . 

1.04 

Boy  from    6  to    8,    . 

.86 

Boy  from    2  to    5,    . 

.52 

Nursing  Child,    . 

.49 

$8.63 


weekly,  and  figuring  a  month  as  four  weeks  and  two  days,  the 
total  per  month  is  $37.40. 


20 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

The  "Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labor"  of  1897, 
"The  Italians  in  Chicago"  gives  important  information  and 
figures  on  the  food  of  the  Italians  in  that  city.  Inquiries  were 
made  in  782  families  of  3,711  persons,  and  the  estimated  cost 
of  food  for  family  of  same  size  of  above  in  that  city  was  §7.45. 
(We  must  remember  that  since  this  report  was  made,  prices 
have  become  much  higher.) 

The  Report  observed  that  the  Italians  in  Chicago  spent 
enough  for  food,  but  either  from  the  selection  or  manner  of 
preparation,  they  did  not  receive  the  nourishment  necessary  to 
keep  them  well  and  strong.  For  example,  they  preferred  pork 
to  beef,  and  often  had  greens  in  bad  condition,  that  had  been 
refused  by  the  markets.  They  used  very  little  milk  and  butter, 
but  much  fat,  and  they  prepared  eggs  in  such  a  way  that  they 
lost  their  nutritive  value,  and  they  spent  too  much  for  beer. 
"Reports  were  secured  from  726  families  as  to  the  amount 
expended  for  beer  per  day.  Of  this  number  of  families  533,  or 
73.42  per  cent,  reported  that  they  used  beer  and  that  the  average 
cost  of  beer  per  day  per  family  was  11.1  cents.  The  average  cost 
of  milk  per  day  per  family  was  but  2.7  cents." 

In  the  Italian  colony  of  Milwaukee,  limiting  our  inquiry 
to  a  hundred  families  of  workmen  who  earn  an  average  of  SI. 80 
a  day,  the  evidence  shows  that  a  family  of  8  persons,  that  is, 
father,  mother  and  six  children,  from  13  years  down,  during 
normal  times,  spends  not  less  than  one  dollar  a  day  for  food 
and  drink. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  expenses  for  food  of  one  typical 
Italian  laborer's  family  in  Milwaukee  of  8  persons: 

Carried  over,         .        .        .       $4 .  66 
Potatoes,       ....  .25 

Tomatoes,  cheese,  oil  &  lard,       .50 
Greens  and  Fruit,        .        .  .30 

Eggs, 22 

Others,  .        .     *  .        .        .  .15 

$4.66  $6.08 

Drink — Beer — Average  15  cents  every  day,    .        ...        .        .        .         1.05 

Total  Weekly  Expenditure, $7.13 

21 


Milk,  weekly, 

$0 .  77 

Bread,  weekly. 

1.75 

Coffee,  weekly, 

.20 

Macaroni,  weekly, 

.70 

Sugar,  weekly, 

.24 

Meat,  weekly. 

1.00 

THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

This  would  make  a  daily  average  of  SI. 02,  to  which  must 
be  added  a  reasonable  rent  of  35  cents  a  day,  items  for  clothing, 
household  utensils,  etc.,  reaching  a  total  expense  of  SI. 90  or 
S2.00  daily.  The  supporter  of  that  family  is  a  garbage  collector, 
who  earns  from  S3. 00  to  S3. 50  daily,  of  which  about  75  cents 
daily  is  spent  for  the  horse.  But  in  many  cases  the  average 
earning,  as  was  said  above,  is  no  more  than  S2.00  daily. 

The  149  families  on  records  of  the  Associated  Charities 
gave  the  following  figures: 

Families  wth  1  or  2  children,  ....       41 

Families  with  3  or  4  children,  ....        65 

Families  with  more  than  5  children,       ...        38 
Total  nimiber  of  children,  582;     Average  per  family,  3.25  cliildren 
each. 

For  families  of  this  size  the  daily  expense  for  food  is  from 
75  cents  to  80  cents,  and  the  total  expenditure  from  SI. 15  to 
SI. 25.  This  explains  how  some  families  of  w^orkmen  in  Mil- 
waukee, earning  from  S45  to  S55  monthly,  not  only  live,  but 
save  from  SIO  to  820,  when  there  are  debts  to  be  paid  that  were 
contracted  during  the  months  of  no  work.  In  the  last  years 
the  suffering  has  unfortunately  been  more  constant  because  of 
the  long  months  of  no  work  and  frequent  sickness,  generally 
caused  by  insufficient  nourishment  during  these  periods  of 
idleness.  It  is  impossible  to  give  any  figures  on  the  feeding  of 
families  in  these  cases,  because  it  depends  upon  the  circumstances 
and  it  is  generally  reduced  to  an  almost  unbelievable  minimum. 
It  is  impossible  to  give  figures  on  the  expenses  for  food  of  the 
single  men  who  are  boarded  in  families.  Generally  they  spend 
only  a  few  cents  a  day  for  eating",  and  their  average  of  total  ex- 
penditure may  be  considered  from  SIO  to  S15  monthly,  includ- 
ing S3. 00  for  lodging. 

Food  given  .by  the  County  Poor  Department  of  Milwaukee 
during  the  winter  has  been  of  great  help  to  the  poor  Italian  fam- 
ilies, but  some  of  the  food  is  not  palatable  to  them,  especially  to 
the  families  which  came  from  South  Italy.  With  the  flour  they 
make  macaroni  and  bread,  but  as  the  flour  is  not  a  fine  quality, 

22 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

the  bread  is  dark  and  sour,  and  is  unwillingly  eaten,  especially 
by  children.  When  they  can  afford  it,  the  women  mix  in  a  little 
flour  of  better  quality,  making  the  bread  softer.  Oatmeal  and 
cornmeal  are  also  eaten  unwillingly  because  they  have  not  used 
these  foods  in  their  country.  Visitors  and  housekeepers  from 
institutions  of  social  welfare,  always  have  difficulty  in  persuad- 
ing the  mothers  of  Sicilian  families  to  use  such  food  for  their 
children.  In  Sicily  corn  is  scarcely  cultivated.  The  soil  is 
better  adapted  to  wheat  growing  and  generally  people  believe 
that  corn  contains  no  nourishment  and  is  good  only  for  poultry. 
It  is  hard  to  convince  these  mothers  of  the  contrary,  and  chil- 
dren really  do  not  like  it,  perhaps  because  it  is  not  well  prepared. 

The  use  of  corn  is  largely  spread  among  the  provinces  of 
North  and  Central  Italy.  They  make  with  corn  flour  a  special 
dish  called  "polenta" — corn  flour  boiled  in  water  and  seasoned 
with  olive  oil  or  lard,  and  with  different  kinds  of  sauce  or  meat. 

In  Sicilian  provinces,  beer  is  an  unknown  drink  among 
workmen.  Instead  they  use  the  good  strong  wine  of  Sicilian 
vineyards,  which  is  rather  cheap  and  very  abundant.  In  the 
same  way,  strong  alcoholic  liquors,  as  gin,  rum,  and  so  on,  are 
completely  unknown  in  Sicily.  Such  drinks  are  used  by  work- 
men of  North  Italy  and  especially  in  the  big  cities  like  Milan 
and  Turin.  That  explains  the  fact  that  Sicilian  workmen  in 
Milwaukee  do  not  use  liquor  and  seldom  get  drunk.  They 
drink  enough  beer  with  their  meals  as  a  substitute  for  the  wine 
which  they  can  not  afford  here.  A  bottle  of  wine  is  a  luxury 
for  special  occasions  like  christening  or  other  feasts. 

A  few  Italians  who  become  intoxicated  can  be  found 
among  saloonkeepers  and  among  young  people  who  have  been 
accustomed  from  boyhood  to  American  life  and  live  almost 
entirely  with  workmen  of  other  nationalities.  In  fact,  among 
thousands  of  cases  of  drunkenness  brought  to  the  courts,  there 
are  very  few  Italians,  as  we  will  show  better  in  the  following 
chapter  on  "Delinquency." 

Tea  is  also  a  drink  to  which  the  Sicilians  are  not  ac- 
customed, and  it  is  almost  useless  to  give  it  to  them,  as  they 
do  not  care  for  it  and  prefer  coft'ee,  of  which  they  are  fond.     In 

23 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

hard  times  a  little  bread  soaked  in  coffee  makes  the  breakfast 
of  the  family,  but  in  normal  times  more  or  less  milk  is  added. 
Generally  it  is  believed  that  Italian  mothers  furnish  too  little 
milk  to  their  children.  The  said  Report,  "The  Italians  in  Chi- 
cago," observes:  "Milk  is  used  in  very  small  quantities.  The 
question,  do  you  give  your  children  milk  is  usually  answered 
in  the  affirmative  by  the  Italian  mother,  but  further  inquiries 
bring  out  the  information  that  she  buys  only  about  3  cents 
worth  per  day  and  gives  it  to  the  children  with  coffee." 

90  per  cent  of  the  poor  families  who  call  at  the  Associated 
Charities  ask  for  milk  for  the  children. 

Families  have  their  most  important  meal  in  the  evening 
on  returning  from  work.  It  consists  of  macaroni  with  tomatoes, 
or  soup  with  vegetables,  a  little  meat  two  or  three  times  a  week, 
potatoes,  and  from  time  to  time  greens  cooked  in  various  ways, 
preferably  seasoned  with  olive  oil,  or  raw  with  oil  and  vinegar. 
The  use  of  peppers  is  general  among  the  Italians  of  the  Central 
Provinces,  but  rare  among  the  Sicilians.  The  children  soon 
become  accustomed  to  the  food  of  the  family  and  drink  beer  at 
an  early  age.  Eggs  are  rarely  used  by  the  poor  families  in  Mil- 
waukee, as  the  majority  in  Sicily  kept  their  own  chickens  and 
had  eggs  exceptionally  fresh.  In  Milwaukee  the  price  is  higher 
and  rather  than  have  them  not  fresh,  they  do  not  use  them. 
The  use  of  butter  and  cream  is  very  rare  and  this  may  be  the 
reason  that  the  Sicilian  women  are  considered  deficient  cooks 
by  the  Americans.  This  may  be  true  in  regard  to  American 
dishes,  but  generally  their  native  dishes  are  excellently  prepared. 
In  normal  times,  the  food  of  the  Italians  in  Milwaukee  is  whole- 
some, although  not  always  suited  to  the  climate  and  conditions 
of  life. 

However,  there  are  some  cases  in  which  the  nourishment 
of  the  Italian  families  becomes  deficient  in  quality.  This  comes 
from  an  obvious  reason.  Families  of  the  Italian  workmen  buy 
their  provisions  from  Italian  groceries,  because  the  women  who 
purchase,  seldom  know  any  language  but  their  own  dialect, 
and  also  at  the  Italian  groceries  they  are  given  credit  when  they 
are  unable  to  pay  cash.     Some  of  the  groceries  in  the  Third 

24 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Ward  are  fairly  well  supplied,  but  some  have  a  limited  stock  of 
goods  and  are  not  run  in  a  very  favorable,  sanitary  way.  The 
customers  of  these  stores  have  little  to  choose  from  and  must 
be  satisfied  with  that  which  they  fmd,  and  even  if  they  can  af- 
ford to  pay  cash,  they  would  not  go  elsewhere,  either  out  of  grati- 
tude for  the  credit  given  in  the  past  or  because  of  the  possibility 
of  a  need  in  the  future.  They  are  therefore  obliged  to  accept 
the  goods,  in  whatever  condition  they  fmd  them. 


Vll. 
HEALTH  CONDITIONS 

JUDGING  from  the  ofHcial  report  of  the  Health  Department 
of  the  city,  the  health  conditions  of  the  Italian  colony  seems 
to  be  good,  even  better  than  those  of  some  other  districts. 
The  Bulletin  of  the  Health  Department  of  April,  1915,  gave 
2,032  cases  of  tuberculosis  in  the  city,  which  is  about  5  per 
thousand  of  the  whole  population. 

Of  this  number,  in  the  records  of  the  tuberculosis  depart- 
ment, can  be  found  only  13  cases  among  Italians,  which  gives  a 
percentage  of  about  lyi  per  thousand  of  the  whole.  Italian 
population  calculated  at  9,000. 

However,  tuberculosis  is  more  widely  spread  in  the  Third 
Ward  than  is  shown  in  official  reports.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  in  the  majority  of  cases,  as  soon  as  the  doctor  shows  that 
he  suspects  tuberculosis,  and  even  before  the  diagnosis  is  cer- 
tain, the  sick  ones  hurry  to  leave  the  city.  Some  of  them  fear 
to  be  listed  at  the  T.  B.  Department,  feeling  certain  unreason- 
able shame,  as  though  tuberculosis  might  disgrace  the  whole 
family.  They  believe  that  in  returning  to  Italy  they  can  re- 
cover their  health  more  easily,  and  this  is  quite  true.  Some 
others  go  to  Galifornia  where  the  climate  is  more  temperate 
and  more  like  that  of  Sicily.  In  many  cases  those  who  have 
not  the  money  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  trip  to  Italy,  take  up 
a  collection  among  friends,  or  in  the  colony;  or  they  resort  to 
the  Consular  Agent,  to  take  advantage  of  the  help  which  the 
Italian  Government  allows  the  emigrants,  who  need  to  be  taken 
home,  so  that  they  may  not  be  an  expense  to  public  charity. 

The  cases  that  figure  in  the  statistics  of  the  Health  Depart- 
ment are  the  few  whose  condition  is  too  serious  to  enable  them 
to  travel,  or  those  who  have  no  relatives  in  Italy  and  are  defi- 
nitely settled  in  America.  This  custom  of  returning  to  Italy 
explains  also  the  fact   that   the  mortality  among  the   Italians 

26 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

is  much  lower  than  among  those  of  other  nationaHties.  It  is 
also  to  be  noted  that  75%  of  the  cases  of  tuberculosis  among 
Italians  are  children  or  young  people  born  or  grown  up  in 
America.  The  others  are  adult  people  with  five  or  four  years 
residence,  and  the  larger  number  are  women.  The  most  com- 
mon fatal  disease  among  Italians  is  pneumonia,  but  the  most 
frequent  complaint  is  rheumatism. 

In  the  149  families  examined  we  have  found  86  cases  of 
diseases  distributed  as  in  the  fol!o\\'ino;  table: 


Tuberculosis  or  suspected, 

Rheumatism, 

Stomach  Trouble, 

Typhoid  Fever, 

Heart  Trouble,  . 

Insanity, 

Venereal  Diseases, 

Pneumonia, 

Various, 


18 
12 
7 
6 
2 
3 
5 
5 
28 


Of  these  86  cases,  81  were  acquired  in  America  and  only  5 
imported  from  Italy,  which  were  3  cases  of  syphilis,  which  de- 
veloped into  cerebral  paralysis,  and  2  cases  of  malarial  fever. 
The  causes  of  diseases  in  the  Italian  colony  of  Milwaukee  are 
principally: 


a)  The  difference  in  climate  from  that  of  Sicily. 

b)  Occupations  involving  exposure  to  irritating  dusts,  poison- 

ous fumes  and  vapors,  excessive  humidity,  intense  heat, 
and  so  on. 

c)  The  frequent   periods   of  idleness   which   necessitate   defi- 

cient nourishment. 

d)  The  unhygienic  conditions  of  the  district  and  the  excessive 

overcrowding  of  the  houses. 

e)  The  lack  of  prophylaxis  in  contagious  diseases. 

(a)     Climate:     In   Southern    Italy   stoves  are   not  used, 
and  in  the  mountain  countries  only  during  the  coldest  days  of 

27 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

winter,  when  fires  are  lighted  in  movable  braziers  to  heat  the 
houses.  Therefore  the  women  of  the  colony  have  no  experience 
in  methods  of  heating  common  to  America.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  of  the  Italian  workmen  in  Milwaukee,  a  wood  or  coal 
stove  in  the  kitchen  is  the  only  source  of  warmth;  the  other 
rooms  are  heated  only  at  night  before  going  to  bed.  During 
the  day  the  family  life  centers  in  the  kitchen,  which  is  often  too 
small  and  in  bad  hygienic  condition.  The  men  too  often  un- 
employed during  the  winter,  gather  in  groups  of  three  or  four 
and  sometimes  more,  to  chat  and  play  cards  around  the  stove. 
The  Italians  are  not  accustomed  to  staying  indoors,  and  go  in 
and  out  continually  to  the  nearby  saloons  or  houses  of  friends, 
from  the  warmth  of  the  house  to  the  cold  of  the  streets  without 
putting  on  heavy  wraps.  Pneumonia,  rheumatism  and  tuber- 
culosis are  developed. 

(b)  Work:  In  the  foundries  the  Italians  cannot  en- 
dure long;  rarely  can  they  work  more  than  nine  or  ten  years 
under  the  best  conditions,  without  completely  ruining  their 
health.  Those  who  work  at  furnaces  are  exhausted  more 
easily.  Work  in  tanneries  is  relatively  less  tiresome,  where  some 
are  employed  to  fix  skins  on  frames  for  drying,  but  the  poison- 
ous vapors  which  emanate  from  the  materials  are  very  bad  for 
their  lungs.  It  is  to  be  considered  once  more  that  most  of  them 
were  country  men  and  used  to  work  in  open  air  and  sunshine. 
Their  present  life  in  shops  and  factories,  being  entirely  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  surroundings  in  which  they  grew  up  and  developed 
in  their  native  land,  they  are  more  exposed  to  diseases  from 
unhealthy  work,  than  others  who  come  from  families  of  genera- 
tions of  shop  workmen. 

(c)  Malnutrition:  This  is  the  cause  generally  given 
by  Americans  for  the  diseases  and  bad  physical  conditions  of 
the  Italians,  but  it  is  usual  only  during  their  long  periods  of 
unemployment. 

(d)  Overcrowding:  Another  important  cause  of  dis- 
ease is  the  unhygienic  condition  of  the  houses  and  the  excessive 
crowding  of  which  we  have  already  spoken,  and  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  lack  of  prophylaxis,  helps  to  spread  infectious  dis- 

28 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

eases.  Undoubtedly  the  lack  of  such  proper  precautions  is  due 
to  ignorance  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  large  number 
of  the  Italians  in  the  colony  come  of  the  peasant  class  of  the 
poorest  villages  of  Sicily,  in  which  schools  have  been  established 
only  a  few  years.  Many  of  these  people  have  no  idea  what 
infection  is  and  cannot  believe  that  diseases  are  brought  by  germs. 
Among  old  women  there  are  those  who  believe  that  diseases  are 
produced  by  the  evil  influence  of  some  person  of  extraordinary 
power.  Such  beliefs  often  cause  unfortunate  consequences,  as 
such  superstitious  persons  think  that  one  glance  or  one  touch  of 
the  hand  of  one  who  wishes  to  harm  you  is  sufficient  to  produce 
a  sickness  which  no  doctor  nor  medicine  can  cure.  In  these 
cases  another  person  is  called  in,  who  possesses  superior  power 
and  who  is  stronger  than  the  one  who  did  the  harm.  Naturally 
there  are  always  people  who  speculate  on  these  superstitions  of 
the  old  people,  and  make  them  believe  they  possess  such  power, 
thereby  acquiring  not  only  a  good  trade,  but  also  complete  con- 
trol over  the  simple. 

In  Italy  such  mystification  is  severely  punished  by  law, 
and  these  superstitious  practices  survive  only  in  the  villages  far 
away  from  the  cities,  and  only  among  older  people  who  did  not 
go  to  school. 


29 


Vlll. 
DISEASES  OF  THE  CHILDREN 

THE  Report  of  Italians  in  Chicago  said  that  rickets,  a  dis- 
ease due  to  malnutrition,  is  exceedingly  prevalent  among 
the  children  of  Italian  working  people.  And  the  same 
belief  is  widely  spread  in  Milwaukee  about  the  Italian  children. 
Our  inquiry  on  this  point  gave  us  the  following  facts: 

The  disease  most  prevalent  among  the  Italian  children 
of  the  Third  Ward  is  enteritis  in  its  various  forms  and  compli- 
cations. The  Italian  doctor  who  offered  his  services  in  the  dis- 
pensary for  children  placed  in  the  Detroit  Street  School,  calcu- 
lated that  75%  of  the  nursing  babies  examined  by  him  were 
sick  with  enteritis  and  that  the  fact  was  due  to  careless  feeding. 
In  Sicily  in  the  country  districts,  artificial  feeding  of  babies  is 
rarely  used,  only  in  cases  of  absolute  necessity;  but  the  Italian 
women  in  Milwaukee  frequently  substitute  the  bottle  for  the 
natural  nourishment.  Sometimes  they  do  this  because  they 
themselves  are  undernourished,  during  the  several  months  of 
the  year  when  their  husbands  are  idle.  Unfortunately,  most 
of  the  mothers  have  not  learned  how  to  prepare  the  artificial 
food  properly,  and  give  the  babies  solids,  earlier  than  is  wise. 
It  is  a  fact  that  the  Italian  children  of  many  families  that  were 
born  and  brought  up  in  America,  have  not  the  fine  physical 
development  of  their  parents,  who  still  bear  traces  of  beauty  in 
spite  of  a  life  full  of  hard  toil  and  privation.  However,  in  com- 
parison with  the  children  of  other  nationalities,  Italian  children 
are  found  in  good  condition.  The  table  published  by  the  "Re- 
port of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Schools"  of  Milwaukee, 
for  the  year  ending  June,  1913,  offers  us  valuable  material  on 
the  health  and  hygiene  of  the  Italian  children  who  attend  the 
school.  The  majority  of  those  children  are  found  in  the  Detroit 
Street  School,  which  is  in  the  center  of  the  Italian  district.  In 
the  Jefferson  Street  School  there  are  several  classes  of  Italian 

30 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

children,   because  the   Detroit  Street  School  had   no  place  for 
them. 

In  the  Detroit  Street  School  there  is  a  total  of  1,025 
scholars,  of  which  1,002  were  Italians,  98%  of  the  total;  there- 
fore we  may  consider  the  school  as  composed  entirely  of  Italians. 
The  total  number  of  schools  in  Milwaukee  in  the  said  year  was 
63,  with  49,205  pupils.  From  the  Report  we  have  the  follow- 
ing figures  on  contagious  diseases: 


31 


THF    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


o 

3G 

1253 

128 

31st 

St.  School 

12th 

Con- 
tagious 
Contact 

S   2 

CO 
<     § 

o    o 

(M           o            O   ;5    -g                  -5 

o 
■       -H       ^  :S  ^ 

:      ^         0CO           : 

11 

"o 

o 

O           CO           <N    "S   -f-                   -^ 

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1 

"5 
o 

IB 

CO        o        o  •£  -r;             -^ 

2           ^    X   CO                  ^ 

CO  '-^ 

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o   o 

CO       ^       o   2  -5            :S 

Diseases : 

^        c        '^   o             ^  'C   g 

3  ■  1  ■  -s I i    '"si 
1    1     fesi    1^2 

^       ■   n:       ■   -2     O     03            ^             o 

~        Sew        <^   c   c 
^        o        §  .=  ^       O  •=   2 

^;       H       W       12;       S 

THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

From  these  figures  one  sees  there  are  in  Milwaukee,  dis- 
tricts in  which  infectious  diseases  are  more  prevalent  than  among 
the  Italians,  and  evidently  there  are  people  in  worse  condition 
than  those  in  the  Third  Ward,  even  though  the  Detroit  Street 
School  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  city  and  not  constructed  with 
the  improvements  demanded  by  new  methods.  Not  less  im- 
portant is  the  comparison  between  the  Detroit  Street  School 
and  the  others  on  eye  and  skin  diseases. 


33 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


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34 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


The  condition  presented  by  the  ItaHan  children  of  the 
Detroit  Street  School  is  much  better  in  regard  to  physical  de- 
fects and  non-contaeious  diseases. 


Detroit 

Other 

Street 

Schools 

Italian 

Diseases: 

School 

Total 
of  All 

Percentage 

Hyper.  Tonsils,    .... 

12 

3,604 

0.33  per  100 

Adenoids,     . 

6 

322 

1.75 

Defect.  Nasal  Breathing, 

426 

0.00 

Defect.  Palate,    . 

37 

0.00 

Defective  Teeth, 

9 

11,798 

0.08 

Myopia, 

3 

1,798 

0.16 

Hypermotropia,  . 

19 

0.00 

Other  Eye  Defects, 

1 

134 

0.75 

Defective  Hearing, 

1 

64 

1.56 

Orthopedic  Spine, 

49 1 
31 1* 

Orthopedic  Trvuik, 

1 

0.90 

Orthopedic  Extremities, 

33J 

Enlarged  Lymph.  Nodes, 

2 

1,857 

0.11 

Pulmonary  Diseases, 

39 

0.00 

Cardiac  Diseases, 

95 

0.00 

Nervous, 

89 

0.00 

Chorea, 

14 

0.00 

Epilepsy, 
Goiter, 

6 
33 

0.00 
0.00 

Stammer, 

17 

0.00 

Totals,          .... 

35 

20,465 

0.17 

It  seems  from  this  table  that  Italian  children  resist  disease 
very  well,  perhaps  better  than  children  of  other  nationalities. 


35 


IX. 
HOSPITAL  CARE 

IT  is  generally  found  that  Italians  are  very  unwilling  to  be 
taken  to  American  hospitals.  Many  times  they  prefer  to 
suffer  and  die  in  their  own  homes  without  means  for  being 
properly  treated  and  putting  themselves  to  great  expense,  even 
refusing  free  treatment  at  the  hospitals.  Apropos  of  this  aver- 
sion, the  Report,  "The  Italians  in  Chicago,"  states  that  the 
cause  of  this  is  that  the  Italians  cannot  adapt  themselves  to 
the  radical  change  of  food  to  which  they  are  subjected  in  going 
from  their  homes  to  the  hospitals. 

However,  there  are  other  reasons  equally  or  perhaps 
more  strong  and  more  interesting  that  combine  to  create  this 
antipathy  to  hospitals  and  sanatoriums  managed  by  Ameri- 
cans. The  hospitals  in  Italy  are  very  ancient,  the  oldest  that 
history  records,  and  have  always  been  of  a  charitable  character, 
caring  only  for  those  people  who  are  miserable  and  destitute. 
In  the  minds  of  the  people,  at  least  in  many  regions  of  Italy, 
they  still  exist  for  this  purpose.  In  the  towns  and  villages  the 
medical  service  is  the  responsibility  and  at  the  expense  of  the 
municipality,  which  maintains  one  or  more  doctors  who  are 
obliged  to  visit  the  sick,  poor  people  in  their  homes  without  any 
obligatory  fee.  From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  only  the  poorest 
people,  those  who  are  not  even  able  to  buy  medicines  and  neces- 
sary food,  are  taken  to  hospitals.  To  go  to  a  hospital  for  such 
a  reason  is  regarded  as  a  disgrace,  being  a  confession  of  com- 
plete destitution.  To  go  to  the  hospital  for  operations  or 
treatments  which  would  be  impossible  at  home,  is  common  in 
Italy  but  only  among  the  poorest  classes.  (Also,  it  is  common 
in  large  cities  among  the  rich,  but  for  them  there  are,  as  every- 
where, private  rooms.)  When  these  facts  are  known,  it  is  easy 
to  understand  that  Italian  laborers  in  Milwaukee,  who  come  from 
rural   villages  of  Sicily,   have  a  prejudice  against   hospitals  in 

36 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

general,  but  their  aversion  is  stronger  against  American  hos- 
pitals in  particular,  because  it  often  happens  that  these  working- 
men  do  not  know  one  word  of  the  English  language  with  which 
to  explain  their  needs;  the  encouragement  of  the  doctor  and 
nurses  is  a  great  help  and  comfort,  and  often  more  valuable 
than  the  medicine.  All  of  this  is  lacking  to  the  poor  Italian 
laborer  in  an  American  hospital.  At  times  the  effort  to  make 
other  people  understand  makes  the  sick  one  nervous  and  he  suffers 
physically  and  mentally.  It  is  this  feeling  of  dismay  and  spirit- 
ual isolation  that  frightens  the  Italian.  No  wonder  he  prefers 
to  stay  home  where  his  wife  and  children  are  always  near  to 
encourage  him  and  keep  his  spirits  up.  Those  who  observe 
case  after  case,  notice  in  fact  that  those  who  refuse  to  go  to  the 
hospitals  are  precisely  those  who  cannot  speak  English  or  those 
who  have  had  one  experience  there. 

In  the  149  families  studied  we  found  9  cases  of  sickness 
in  which  hospital  care  was  absolutely  refused,  and  of  them  in 
3  cases  the  sick  person  knew  little  English,  and  in  6  cases  they 
had  been  taken  to  the  hospital  before. 

In  a  total  of  86  cases  of  diseases,  25  accepted  the  hospitals' 
free  treatment;  14  were  in  the  pay  section;  12  were  treated  at 
the  free  dispensaries;    35  at  home. 

To  overcome  the  aversion  to  the  American  hospitals  among 
the  Italian  workingmen,  a  certain  modification  in  the  diet  would 
be  necessary  as  suggested  by  Wight,  and  also  an  Italian  nurse, 
and  possibly  an  Italian  doctor  to  deal  with  the  Italian  cases. 


X. 

EDUCATION 

WE  have  said  that  Italian  children  attend  the  School  at 
Detroit  Street,  where  the  98  per  cent  of  all  the  pupils 
are  Italians.  In  the  report  of  the  School  Board 
of  Milwaukee,  for  the  year  ending  June  31,  1913,  we  find  the 
following  figures  of  the  enrollment  in  the  said  school: 


Number  of 

Number  of 

Grade : 

Pupils 

Grade: 

Pupils 

Enrolled 

Enrolled 

Eighth  Grade, 

22 

Seventh  Grade,  . 

22 

Sixth  Grade, 

556 

Fifth  Grade, 

87 

Fourth  Grade, 

128 

Third  Grade,       . 

115 

Second  Grade,    . 

105 

First  Grade, 

144 

Ungraded,   . 

26 

Kindergarten, 

114 

The  total  of  enrolled  pupils  was  1,091.  This  number 
increased  in  the  following  two  years  and  as  the  school  building 
at  Detroit  Street  was  too  small  for  such  numbers  of  children, 
four  classes  of  the  highest  grades  were  removed  to  the  school 
building  on  Jefferson  Street.  Besides,  many  Italian  children 
were  scattered  in  the  other  schools  of  the  city  near  the  residences 
of  their  parents.  Their  number  can  be  calculated  at  about  200. 
In  all,  we  have  about  1,450  Italian  children  attending  the  city 
public  schools  in  grammar  and  primary  grades,  classes  and 
kindergartens.  In  regard  to  the  attendance  the  Report  gives 
us  the  following  figures: 


Total  Pupils  Enrolled, 
Average  Daily  Membership, 
Average  Daily  Attendance, 
Cases  of  Truancy, 


1,091 

939 

984 

29 


38 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

In  the  cases  of  truancy,  the  most  common  reason  for  the 
non-attendance  of  the  children  was  poverty,  and  especially  in 
winter  time  the  need  of  shoes  and  clothing;  in  a  few  cases  the 
fault  was  the  parents'  and  especially  the  mothers',  who,  being 
extraordinarily  busy,  or  for  some  other  reason  forced  their 
children  (in  these  cases  little  girls)  to  stay  home  and  take  care 
of  the  family  babies. 

Only  in  two  or  three  cases  the  Truancy  office  had  to  deal 
with  children  whose  non-attendance  was  caused  by  parents' 
negligence.  In  comparison  with  schools  of  other  districts,  the 
Detroit  Street  School  does  not  present  an  excessive  number  of 
truancy  cases,  as  the  Report  shows: 


School : 

Number  of 

Pupils 

Enrolled 

Daily 
Attendance 

Truancy 
Cases 

1. 

Ninth  Street  School, 

1237 

953 

74 

2. 

Eighth  Street  School,      . 

859 

533 

64 

3. 

Fifth  Avenue  School, 

1079 

750 

43 

4. 

Hanover  Street  School,  . 

1391 

1127 

36 

5. 

North  Pierce  Street  School,   . 

946 

694 

33 

6. 

Fourth  Street  School,     . 

987 

703 

29 

7. 

Detroit  Street  School,     . 

1091 

894 

29 

The  other  schools  give  a  number  of  cases  less  than  29  each. 


It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Italian  children  frequent  only  the 
public  schools.  Though  almost  all  Italian  families  are  Catholic, 
they  do  not  send  their  children  to  the  Catholic  Parochial  Schools, 
as  Catholic  Irish  and  Germans  do.  Some  attempts  to  have 
them  send  their  children  to  the  private  sectarian  schools  failed. 
In  Italy  there  are  neither  Parochial  Schools,  nor  Sectarian 
education  for  children  of  the  lower  classes;  therefore,  the 
Italian  families  in  Milwaukee  trust  public  schools  more  fully 
than  the  others,  and  prefer  to  have  their  children  educated 
under  the  control  of  the  city   rather  than   the  church.     This 

39 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

explains  the  fact  that  the  Italian  children  are  Americanized 
more  rapidly  than  children  of  other  nationalities,  for  example, 
Polish  children  who  attend  the  Parochial  Polish  schools,  where 
not  only  they  learn  the  Polish  language,  but  they  breathe  Polish 
spirit  and  ideas  through  the  Polish  environment. 

Another  reason  which  makes  Italian  families  in  Milwaukee 
prefer  public  to  private  schools  is  the  opportunity  given  to  De- 
troit Street  pupils  to  learn  the  Italian  language.  This  wise 
provision  of  the  Milwaukee  School  Board  makes  the  public 
schools  more  useful  and  sympathetic  to  the  Italian  families. 

It  is  very  frequently  the  case  that  Italian  parents  speaking 
nothing  but  their  native  dialect  and  living  always  in  close  con- 
nection with  Italian  speaking  neighborhoods,  never  learn  the 
English  language.  On  the  other  hand  the  Italian  children  at- 
tending school,  most  of  the  day,  and  after  school  playing  on  the 
streets  or  selling  papers  on  the  city  corners,  do  not  have  any 
practice  in  the  Italian  language  and  easily  forget  the  few  words 
they  knew,  and  the  time  arrives  when  the  parents  and  children 
are  unable  to  understand  each  other.  Such  a  state  of  affairs 
could  be  only  a  serious  menace  to  the  cohesion  and  the  normal 
development  of  those  families.  Teaching  the  Italian  language 
in  the  public  school  is  therefore  an  efficacious  measure  against 
this  danger  and  at  the  same  time  secures  the  attendance  of  the 
Italian  children  at  the  said  school,  hastening  their  Americaniza- 
tion and  through  them  the  Americanization  of  their  parents. 

The  number  of  Italian  children  attending  the  high  schools 
is  very  small  now;  it  will  increase  as  soon  as  economic  condi- 
tions improve  and  Italians  are  not  obliged  to  send  their  children 
to  work  as  soon  as  they  reach  the  legal  age,  in  order  to  support 
themselves  or  to  help  the  family. 

Various  are  the  judgments  of  teachers  concerning  the 
average  development  of  mind  of  Italian  children  and  their 
attitude  toward  learning.  Those  given  by  several  Mil- 
waukee teachers  who  have  had  long  experience  with 
Italian  children  would  indicate  that  they  are  generally  intelli- 
gent and  quite  proficient  in  their  school  work.  However, 
several  teachers  observed  that  most  Italian  children  are  very 

40 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

thorough  in  the  mechanical  part  of  their  work,  while  they  are 
rather  slow  at  those  things  which  require  continued  thought. 
The  same  teachers  believed  that  the  cause  of  such  slowness  in 
thinking  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  have  no  generations  of  trained 
minds  back  of  them. 

Other  teachers  disagree  and  emphasize  the  promptness 
of  these  children  in  grasping  ideas  which  are  suggested  by  teach- 
ers and  in  putting  them  together  in  their  composition  work. 

During  fourteen  years  of  my  teaching  in  Italy,  among 
children  of  South  Italy,  I  found  such  slowness  an  exception. 
Furthermore,  Italian  teachers  who  have  had  experience  in  teach- 
ing both  children  of  North  and  South  Italy,  constantly  remark 
that  South  Italian  children  are  generally  quicker  mentally  than 
their  brothers  of  the  North.  Therefore,  if  Italian  children  of 
Milwaukee,  who  are  usually  from  the  South  Italian  families, 
show  that  characteristic  of  slowness  of  mind,  there  must  be  some 
peculiar  reason  which  produces  it. 

The  one  given,  the  lack  of  generations  of  trained  minds 
back  of  them,  is  not  conclusive.  Besides,  the  fact  that  the 
general  scientific  value  and  importance  of  that  theory  today  is 
very  small,  we  must  observe  that  it  is  hard  to  apply  such  a  theory 
to  the  Sicilian  people,  even  to  peasants,  considering  the  his- 
torical background  of  people  and  their  coming  from  a  mixture 
of  diflferent  races.* 

The  childrens'  slowness  of  perception  is  frequently  due  to 
the  difficulty  with  language.  Many  Italian  pupils  are  deficient 
in  English.  This  means  that  while  they  know  practical  English 
and  speak  as  fluently  as  other  children,  they  are  deficient  in 
grammar  and  syntax.     This  deficiency  less  apparent  in  the  lower 


*NOTE:  Apropos  of  tho.-5e  racial  mixtures,  one  of  the  interviewed  teachers 
pointed  out  that  some  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  Sicilian  children 
are  to  be  attributed  to  tlie  negro  blood  they  are  supposed  to  have  in 
their  veins.  The  ignorance  of  Sicilian  history  may  make  many  Amer- 
icans hold  those  convictions,  confounding  the  Arabs  and  Saracens  who 
ruled  Sicil}'  for  more  than  two  centuries,  with  the  negro  races  of  Africa; 
Arabs,  far  from  being  negroes,  were  the  purest  representatives  of  the 
Semitic  race.  Sicilians  and  South  Italians  as  a  race  have  no  negro  blood 
in  their  veins,  and  to  say  the  contrary  is  a  great  mistake. 

41 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

grades,  becomes  the  great  handicap  of  these  children  in  high 
grades  when  they  begin  composition  work. 

For  a  teacher  who  does  not  realize  the  efforts  of  these 
children  during  the  period  of  transforming  their  mental  habits, 
their  thoughts,  their  language,  to  which  the  American  schools 
submit  them,  it  is  easy  to  misunderstand. 

(Concerning  the  attitude  of  Italian  children  toward  learn- 
ing one  of  the  Milwaukee  teachers  expressed  herself  in  the  fol- 
lowing words: 

"Italian  children  do  not  resist  teaching  any  more  than  all 
children  do.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  children  seem  to  lack 
the  desire  to  stick  to  school.  1  was  about  to  say  that  they  seem 
too  well  content  with  their  condition,  but  that  is  the  fault  of 
the  parents;  and  if  these  parents  have  hundreds  of  years  of 
people  back  of  them  who  have  lived  in  a  hot  country,  as  doubt- 
less they  have,  I  should  say  that  the  children  are  doing  well. 
As  to  their  discipline  I  should  say  that  they  are  suspicious  of 
any  one  who  tries  to  govern  them  by  reasoning  with  them. 
I  believe  that  they  are  not  accustomed  to  it.  From  what  they 
tell  me,  they  get  'hit'  at  home  for  any  offense  or  misdemeanor. 
I  feel  certain  that  if  they  were  reasoned  with  at  home  and  at 
school  from  the  Kindergarten  on,  they  would  be  easy  to  man- 
age." 

Just  how  much  influence  the  climate  of  America  may  have 
upon  children  whose  forefathers  lived  for  hundreds  of  years  in 
the  hot  climate  of  Sicily,  is  of  course  problematical.  The  lack 
of  desire  to  improve  their  condition,  cannot  be  given  as  a  general 
or  even  as  a  very  frequent  feeling  among  Italian  children  in  the 
colony.  If  you  ask  as  I  did,  a  hundred  Italian  children  if  they 
would  prefer  to  be  Americans  rather  than  Italians,  ninety-five 
per  cent  will  answer  that  they  would  prefer  to  be  Americans. 
It  is  natural  for  them  to  do  so,  because  they  do  not  know  any- 
thing about  Italy,  but  the  poverty  and  hard  work  of  their  par- 
ents and  of  the  other  families  in  the  colony,  in  comparison  with 
the  comfortable  life  of  y\merican  well-to-do  people.  In  their 
unconscious  shame  in  being  Italian,  there  is  a  strong  desire  to 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

improve  themselves  and  to  climb  to  a  higher  grade  in  their 
social  life. 

The  fact  that  there  are  some  children  who  (though  eager 
to  improve  upon  the  position  of  their  fathers),  dislike  the  school, 
is  a  problem  more  of  methods  and  teachers,  than  a  physiological 
one. 

Furthermore,  this  question  is  closely  connected  with  the 
discipline  in  the  school.  Italian  children,  especially  Sicilians, 
are  very  sensible  to  kindness  and  love,  but  they  become  at  once 
diffident  and  suspicious  if  they  feel  that  people  dealing  with 
them  are  unemotional  and  contemptuous. 

Their  intuition  is  very  keen  in  regard  to  this,  and  being 
also  very  impulsive,  they  cannot  be  mastered  by  fear.  They 
are  easy  to  manage  if  people  understand  them  and  show  a  true 
interest  in  them. 


43 


XI 


DELINQUENCY 

THE  principal  charge  against  the  ItaHans  of  Milwaukee, 
which  is  also  the  principal  charge  brought  against  all  the 
Italians  in  America,  is  that  of  contributing  largely  to 
the  delinquent  and  criminal  element.  Maybe  in  this  regard 
there  is  exaggeration.  The  available  statistics  from  the  Annual 
Reports  of  the  Chief  of  Police  and  others  that  we  have  been 
able  to  gather,  give  us  an  idea  of  the  situation.  We  shall  limit 
ourselves  to  the  years  1910-1913,  which  period  is  suificient  to 
establish  a  basis. 

ITALIANS    ARRESTED 


Years. 

Total  No.  of 
Persons 
Arrested 

Italians 
Arrested 

Percentage 
Italians 
Arrested 

Total 

Number 

Discharged 

Percentage 

of 
Discharged 

1910.. 
1911.. 
1912.. 
1913.. 

8,827 
9,145 
8,972 
9,892 

119 
134 
174 
193 

1.35% 
1.47% 
1.94% 
1.95% 

828 
759 
849 
762 

9.40% 
8.30% 
9.50% 
7.70% 

Total. 

36,836 

620 

1.67% 

3,198 

8.68% 

In  order  to  form  an  idea  of  the  value  of  these  percentages, 
as  compared  with  those  given  of  citizens  of  other  nationalities, 
we  transcribe  herewith  the  entire  statistics  given  in  the  Report 
of  the  Chief  of  Police  for  the  vear  1913. 


44 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


NATIVITY    OF    PERSONS    ARRESTED. 
YEAR    1913 


REPORT    FOR    THE 


Number 

Nationality : 

Arrested 

Percentage 

Discharged 

United  States,         .... 

5,809 

58.72 

f  Figures  by 

German, 

1,079 

10.91 

<  Nationalities 

Austria-Hungary,    .... 

842 

8.51 

[not  given. 

Poland, 

686 

6.93 

Average 

Russia, 

595 

6.02 

8.68  per 

Italy, 

193 

1.95 

cent  in 

Greece, 

144 

1.46 

1910-1913 

Ireland, 

131 

1.32 

fand  7.70 

England-Scotland, 

111 

1.12 

i  per  cent  in 

Canada, 

57 

0.58 

[1913 

Norway, 

57 

0.58 

All  other  countries, 

188 

1.90 

Totals, 

9,892 

100. 

From  this  table  one  would  deduce  that  the  percentage 
number  of  arrests  contributed  by  the  Italians  is  not  very  high, 
either  considered  alone  or  considered  in  relation  to  that  of  other 
nationalities,  and  that  the  percentage  of  deliquency  to  the 
Italian  population  is  not  dis-proportionate. 

One  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  number  of  arrests  does 
not  represent  the  number  of  crimes  committed,  nor  the  viola- 
tions of  ordinances  and  laws.  The  Italians  enjoy  the  well  de- 
served reputation  of  hiding  their  crimes  with  great  skill,  man- 
aging to  elude  the  police.  This,  of  course,  leads  one  to  conclude 
that  the  percentage  of  offences  given  ought  to  be  greater,  in 
order  to  have  the  figures  near  the  truth.  The  Police  Reports 
do  not  show  the  number  of  crimes  of  which  the  perpetrators 
remain  unknown,  and  therefore  no  approximate  number  can  be 
given.  But,  whenever  the  perpetrator  of  a  crime  was  unknown, 
one  or  more  persons  were  arrested  on  suspicion,  and  these  ar- 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

rests  are  counted  in  the  statistics.  Tiie  importance  of  these 
crimes  is  not  due  to  the  number,  but  to  their  nature,  as  we  shall 
see. 

Unfortunately  the  said  Reports  of  the  Police  Department, 
speaking  of  the  causes  of  the  arrests,  do  not  mention  the  nation- 
ality of  the  offenders,  but,  after  careful  search,  we  have  been 
able  to  gather  the  following  approximate  figures: 


Per- 

Classification of  Arrests 

1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

Total 

Ital- 
ians 

cent- 
age 

Abandoning  familj', 
Assault  and  battery, 

320 

257 

342 

245 

1164 

730 

768 

711 

795 

1    .... 

Assault  with  intent  to  do 

great  bodily  harm, 

19 

37 

32 

22 

[  3183 

18 

0.59 

Assault  with  intent  to  kill, 

19 

20 

14 

16 

Burglary   .... 

99 

144 

112 

108 

463 

4 

0.64 

Carrj'ing  concealed  weap- 

ons,       .... 

76 

112 

64 

103 

355 

165 

48.50 

Common  drunkard, 

137 

110 

108 

142 

497 

Contributing   to    delin- 

quency of  child,  . 
Cruelty  to  animals, 

28 

17 

45 

1 

2.22 

38 

18 

23 

14 

93 

1 

1.07 

Disorderly  conduct, 

1966 

1940 

1635 

1926 

7467 

109 

1.19 

Drunkenness,    . 

1021 

999 

1047 

1000 

4067 

3 

0.07 

Drunk  and  disorder!}-,    . 

1948 

1821 

1789 

1982 

7540 

21 

0.027 

Embezzlement, 

66 

58 

59 

45 

228 

Forgery    and    fraudulent 

bank  checks, 

49 
96 

50 
92 

58 
90 

78 
109 

235 

Fugitive,  .... 
Indecent  exposure, 

387 

36 

35 

31 

27 

129 

2 

1 .55 

Inmates   or  keeping   dis- 

orderly houses,     . 

113 

132 

99 

357 

701 

6 

0.85 

Larceny,    .... 

375 

329 

361 

333 

1398 

15 

1.07 

Murder,     .... 

14 

11 

8 

10 

43 

12 

27.95 

Threatening  to  kill, 

32 

27 

28 

19 

106 

12 

11.33 

Vagrancy, 

480 

566 

626 

705 

2377 

36 

1.09 

Violating  city  ordinances. 

602 

731 

626 

913 

2872 

174 

6.89 

Wilful  destruction  of 

property, 

34 

38 

30 

2S 

130 

2 

1.53 

Al!  other  cases,    .    . 

551 

875 

1106 

913 

3445 

39 

1.10 

Totals, 

8,821 

9,170 

9,027 

9,907 

36,925 

620 

1.68 

46 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

From  this  table  we  can  draw  many  interesting  conclusions. 
The  largest  percentage  of  arrested  Italians  is  on  charges  of 
murder,  threatening  to  kill,  and  carrying  concealed  weapons. 
With  some  very  peculiar  exceptions  all  the  acts  of  violence  were 
prepetrated  by  Italians  on  persons  of  their  own  nationality, 
and  all  the  11  persons  murdered  presumably  by  Italians  in  Mil- 
waukee from  1910  to  1913,  were  also  Italians.  Only  a  few  cases 
of  assault  are  to  be  found,  which  were  perpetrated  by  Italians 
on  people  of  other  nationalities. 

These  are  the  statistics  of  Italian  murders  in  Milwaukee 
from  1910  to  1913: 


ITALIAN    iMURDERS 


Murdered 

—   Slayer  — 

Year: 

Men 

Women 

Unknown 

Sentenced 

Discharged 

1910, 

2 

1 

1 

1911, 

1 

1 

1912, 

3 

2 

1 

1913, 

4 

1 

2 

2 

Totals,     . 

10 

1 

6 

2 

2 

Only  two  of  these  murders  can  be  characterized  as  "pas- 
sional crimes"  for  love  affairs.  One  was  committed  in  assault 
for  robbery.  We  do  not  know  the  cause  of  the  others,  because 
the  slayers  remained  unknown,  but  probably  they  were  acts  of 
vengeance  for  real  or  fancied  wrongs.  One  receives  the  im- 
pression that  several  of  them  may  be  linked  together  as  differ- 
ent acts  in  the  same  drama,  it  is  not  easy  to  form  a  fair  judg- 
ment of  such  acts,  but  it  seems  evident  that  the  colony  has  had 
to  pass  through  an  internal  crisis  which  manifested  itself  extern- 
ally and  ended  in  a  sanguinary  manner.  This  would  also  ex- 
plain why  a  great  part  of  these  crimes  (those  which  are  linked 
together),  remain  wrapped  in  mystery. 

it  is  also  to  be  noted  that  several  of  the  murdered  persons 
did  not  enjoy  a  very  good  reputation  among  Italians,  and  that 


47 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

their  disappearance  from  life  was  not  at  all  regretted  in  the 
colony.  This  kind  of  Italian  crime  generally  is  not  dangerous 
to  people  of  other  nationalities. 

CONCEALED    WEAPONS 

Carrying  concealed  weapons  is  the  cause  of  most  Italian 
arrests.  This  is  a  relic  of  the  brigandage  in  South  Italy,  when 
every  citizen  was  obliged  to  carry  weapons  for  his  protection. 
The  brigandage  has  almost  entirely  disappeared  in  those  pro- 
vinces, but  the  habit  of  carrying  weapons  is  even  now  one  of 
the  most  frequent  causes  of  crime  in  Sicily.  Very  often  young 
men  carry  weapons  without  any  reason  and  only  to  feel  strong 
and  proud. 

CITY    ORDINANCES 

A  great  number  of  Italian  laborers  have  been  arrested 
for  violating  city  ordinances.  Most  of  them  for  ignorance, 
not  for  disregard  of  the  lav/s,  and  in  this  regard  it  is  to  be  noted 
that  frequently  proceedings  of  the  policemen  in  such  cases  are 
very  deplorable  and  produce  complications  and  serious  dis- 
orders. 

A  Case:  Two  Italians  with  two  wagons  were  moving 
furniture.  The  house  was  in  the  middle  of  the  block,  and  the 
Italians  did  not  drive  to  the  corner  and  back,  keeping  to  the 
right  as  is  required,  but  stopped  directly  at  the  door.  A  police- 
man from  the  next  corner  asked  the  names  of  both  and  went 
away.  When  the  wagons  were  half  unloaded,  he  came  back 
with  four  other  policemen  and  arrested  the  Italians,  leaving 
wagons,  horses  and  furniture  on  the  street  without  a  watchman. 
In  the  evening  a  friend  of  the  men  paid  bail  of  S30.00  and  they 
were  released.  They  found  their  wagons,  horses  and  furniture 
still  on  the  street.  The  men  were  terribly  angry  at  the  police- 
man, and  while  recognizing  their  mistake,  they  could  not  under- 
stand, as  nobody  could,  the  manner  and  method  of  the  officers. 
Matters  of  this  kind  which  happen  very  frequently  do  not  tend 
to  make  Italian  laborers  sympathetic  with  policemen;    on  the 

48 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

contrary,  they  make  stronger  the  feeling  of  suspicion  toward 
the  agents  of  the  law,  and  corroborate  the  belief  that  law  is  not 
for  the  good,  but  for  the  oppression  of  the  poor.  Many  wrongs, 
and  perhaps  many  crimes,  could  be  avoided  if  American  police- 
men were  willing  to  adopt  more  reasonable  and  intelligent 
methods  with  Italian  laborers,  especially  when  violations  of 
law  are  due  to  ignorance,  rather  than  to  deliberate  ill  will. 

ABANDONA1ENT 

Not  an  Italian  case  of  abandonment  has  been  brought  to 
the  court  in  four  years,  and  only  a  few  cases  are  known  in  the 
colony  of  men  who  have  abandoned  wives  living  in  Italy,  it 
is  comfortable  to  realize  from  this  fact  that  Italians  have  a  strong 
sense  of  duty  towards  their  families. 

DRUNKENNESS 

The  number  of  arrests  for  "drunkenness"  or  "drunk  and 
disorderly"  is  very  small,  and  many  of  these  were  young  people 
grown  up  in  America,  and  some  born  here  of  Italian  families. 
Among  Italians  of  the  second  generation,  there  is  to  be  found  a 
larger  number  of  drunkards  than  among  their  fathers,  though 
the  standard  of  their  living  is  higher  and  their  education  more 
advanced. 

JUVENILE    DELINQUENCY 

With  regard  to  juvenile  delinquency,  the  Italians  contri- 
bute very  little;  in  fact,  during  one  year,  out  of  more  than  two 
thousand  delinquent  children  brought  before  the  Juvenile  Court, 
only  twelve  boys  and  one  girl  were  Italians.  Ten  boys  whose 
ages  ranged  from  9  to  18,  were  guilty  of  having  stolen  a  little 
coal  from  the  tracks;  they  were  given  a  good  lecture  and  were 
put  on  probation;  one  of  the  other  two  delinquent  boys  soon 
showed  that  he  had  mended  his  ways;  the  other  continued  to 
commit  thefts  of  all  kinds,  and  was  repeatedly  brought  into 
court,  and  put  under  very  rigorous  surveillance. 

In  four  years  only  one  girl  was  brought  into  court  on  the 
charge  of  disorderly  conduct,  and  she  was  more  a  victim  of  the 
brutality  of  a  boarder  than  guilty  of  immorality. 

49 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


FEMALE    CRIMES 


Crimes  among  the  females  in  the  colony  were  found  in 
two  important  cases;  the  case  of  a  wife,  who  strangled  her 
husband,  and  was  sentenced  to  life  imprisonment;  and  the  case 
of  a  girl  of  20,  who  shot  and  slightly  wounded  a  man,  who  was 
really  a  bad  character,  and,  according  to  her  contention,  had 
tried  to  extort  money  from  her  family  with  threats  of  violence. 
She  was  found  guilty  of  assault  and  was  sentenced  to  serve  90 
days  in  the  County  Jail. 

PROSTITUTION 

The  Report  of  the  Wisconsin  Vice  Commission  of  1914, 
contains  a  table  of  60  cases  of  prostitution,  which  are  given  as 
typical  and  which  have  been  verified  by  an  investigation  com- 
mittee whose  work  included  not  only  Milwaukee,  but  all  the  larger 
cities  of  Wisconsin.  In  this  table  of  60  cases  there  were  only 
2  Italians,  against  14  Irish,  11  Germans,  10  colored,  4  Amer- 
icans, 4  Polish,  3  French,  3  Jewish,  1  English,  1  Scotch,  and  7 
others.  This  table  does  not  purport  to  give  statistics,  but  taking 
into  consideration  the  accuracy  with  which  it  is  compiled,  and 
the  fact  of  its  cases  being  typical,  it  may  serve  as  an  approximate 
basis  for  statistics.  Taking  these  figures  then  as  an  average  for 
Wisconsin,  one  can  be  very  certain  that  the  Italian  feminine 
element  contributes  much  less  to  prostitution  than  does  that 
of  any  other  nationality. 

EXPLOITATION 

Besides  the  offenses  which  fall  under  the  purview  of  the 
penal  code,  there  exists  a  kind  of  abuse  which  escapes  the  law, 
but  which  is  none  the  less  pernicious  to  the  moral  and  economic 
life  of  the  colony,  namely  that  of  exploitation.  One  of  the  most 
common  sources  of  this  exploitation  lies  in  the  distribution  of 
jobs.  There  are  a  number  of  persons  making  a  comfortable 
living  from  this  industry,  and  they  have  succeeded  in  monopoliz- 
ing the  granting  of  a  certain  kind  of  job  among  the  Italians. 

50 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Another  kind  of  exploitation  is  that  practiced  against  one 
who  has  violated  in  any  way  the  penal  code,  and  is  brought  into 
court.  An  illiterate  Italian,  who  did  not  know  a  single  word 
of  English,  was  arrested  not  long  ago,  for  violating  one  of  the 
city  ordinances.  During  the  night,  a  cousin  who  came  to  know 
of  the  arrest,  went  to  the  police  station  and  bailed  the  man  out. 
In  the  meantime  someone  without  even  notifying  or  consutling 
the  prisoner,  had  ordered  a  lawyer,  to  appear  for  him.  The 
day  after,  when  the  case  was  called  in  court,  this  lawyer  ap- 
peared for  the  prisoner,  who  did  not  understand  what  was  going 
on,  and  did  not  know  that  he  had  a  lawyer.  The  poor  Italian 
went  to  a  friend  to  obtain  advice,  and  was  referred  to  a  lawyer 
who  was  willing  to  lend  his  services  free  of  charge.  This  lawyer 
went  to  court,  only  to  be  informed  that  the  poor  Italian  was 
represented  by  counsel.  Of  course  the  lawyer  sent  by  the 
friend  withdrew.  The  Italian  was  fined  $15.00  and  costs, 
amounting  in  all  to  $22.00,  and  the  lawyer  who  was  not  retained 
by  him,  demanded  and  received  $10  for  his  services.  The  vic- 
tim, either  through  ignorance  or  fear,  generally  bows  to  such 
exploitation,  resigning  himself  to  pay  the  not  indifferent  amount 
asked. 

A  third  form  of  exploitation  is  that  of  contract  work. 
We  do  not  mean  those  contracts  where  the  contractor  invests 
capital,  but  those  for  the  performance  of  which  he  furnishes 
workingmen  and  nothing  else.  The  following  is  a  typical  case 
of  this  kind:  An  Italian  laborer,  with  a  large  family  to  support, 
is  engaged  in  unloading  coal  for  an  Italian  contractor.  This 
man  receives  $1.50  per  day,  and  must  perform  a  definite  amount 
of  work,  for  which  the  contractor  gets  $3.00  from  the  railroad 
company.  Thus  one-half  of  what  the  company  pays  for  unload- 
ing coal  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  contractor,  who  does  not 
invest  anything  of  his  own,  and  who,  without  labor,  by  this 
method  of  exploitation,  makes  from  $200  to  $500  per  month. 
While  the  poor  laborers  have  to  work  in  the  coal  dust,  risk  their 
lives,  and  on  that  small  sum  support  themselves  and  their  fam- 
ilies, the  contractor  lives  like  a  prince,  and  has  for  his  victims 
no  more  consideration  than  he  would  have  for  a  dog  in  the  street. 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

It  is  impossible  to  give  statistics  of  what  is  called  "the 
black  hand"  organization,  that  is,  extortion  of  money  and  favors 
through  anonymous  letters.  There  is  probably  not  a  person 
of  any  importance  in  the  colony  who  has  not  received  now  and 
then  such  letters,  threatening  and  demanding  a  more  or  less 
large  sum  of  money.  Generally  these  letters  are  not  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  police,  the  matter  being  settled  in  a  friendly 
way,  as  the  person  who  received  such  letters  is  almost  always 
anxious  to  buy  his  peace.  At  times  the  receiver  of  such  a  black- 
hand  letter  does  not  comply  with  the  demands,  and  the  matter 
is  dropped  right  there  and  then;  at  other  times,  particularly 
when  the  blackhand  letter  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  police, 
a  bomb  is  exploded  or  other  violence  is  done. 

To  sum  up,  one  may  say  that  although  offences  in 
the  Italian  colony  in  Milwaukee  are  worthy  the  serious  atten- 
tion of  those  interested  in  its  development  and  betterment, 
still  we  are  far  removed  from  the  condition  depicted  last  year 
in  one  of  the  city  dailies,  which  likened  the  Italian  colony  of 
Milwaukee  to  the  slums  of  New  York  and  Chicago.  A  great 
deal  has  been  written  about  the  delinquency  of  the  Italians  in 
America,  containing  often  serious  errors.  This  results  either 
from  lack  of  sufficient  knowledge,  or  because  of  judgments 
based  upon  observations  limited  to  the  exceptional  individuals 
and  their  environments.  It  is  indeed  a  vast  problem  and  ought 
to  be  studied  in  its  entirety  if  one  is  to  arrive  at  concrete  con- 
clusions; this  is  not  possible  within  the  limits  of  our  modest 
paper,  but  we  are  bound  to  say  a  few  words  on  this  subject 
concerning  the  Italian  colony  of  Milwaukee. 

The  citizens  of  Milwaukee  and  other  communities  are 
convinced  that  there  exists  a  powerful  association  of  malefactors, 
and  that  in  it  the  greater  part  of  the  Italians,  if  not  indeed  the 
whole  Italian  population  is  involved.  The  existence  of  such  a 
society  would  explain  quite  satisfactorily  that  bloody  crimes 
were  acts  of  vengeance  against  suspected  or  faithless  members; 
that  the  extortions  were  means  of  replenishing  their  exchequers; 
and  that  the  prevailing  stubborn  silence  was  due  to  vows  and 
to  fear  for  their  own  lives.     But  those  who  are  well  acquainted 

52 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

with  conditions  in  the  colony  know  quite  well  that  such  an 
organization  exists  only  in  the  fancy  of  the  newspaper  reporter 
and  romancer.  In  reality,  there  are  only  a  few  individuals 
who,  having  run  the  whole  gamut  of  crimes,  find  it  convenient 
to  live  in  peace  and  even  with  honor  at  the  expense  of  those 
ignorant  people,  who  allow  themselves  to  be  intimidated  by 
threats  and  bombs.  The  so-called  Black  Handers  are  often 
individuals  who  were  forced  to  leave  Italy,  because  the  police 
were  seeking  them;  since  coming  to  America  they  have  lived 
in  five  or  six  different  states  of  the  Union,  migrating  whenever 
they  found  themselves  in  a  compromising  position.  Three  or 
four  of  these  individuals  with  a  few  inexperienced  and  deluded 
youths  to  execute  their  plans,  are  enough  for  the  work  of  the 
group  to  run  smoothly.  In  America  the  conditions  are  gener- 
ally favorable,  because  of: — 

1.  The  facility  with  which  one  can  pass  from  one  city 
or  state  to  another,  making  it  easy  to  elude  the  vigilance  of  the 
police,  especially  on  account  of  the  fact  that  here  (unlike  Italy) 
the  police  organization  of  each  city  works  almost  independently 
of  that  of  every  other  city,  which  renders  discovery  of  the 
criminal  a  difficult  and  complicated  matter.  Furthermore, 
the  autonomy  of  each  city  police  department  leaves  the  appre- 
hension of  the  criminals  who  have  committed  their  crimes  in 
other  cities  to  the  judgment  and  honesty  of  each  Chief  of  Police; 
and  it  has  very  often  been  the  case  that  in  certain  cities  of  the 
United  States,  (thanks  to  the  bought  complicity  of  the  chief 
or  some  other  influential  police  officer),  there  is  organized  im- 
munity for  criminals  of  all  kinds.  Such  cities  are  a  temporary 
but  safe  refuge,  while  time  is  effacing  remembrance  of  the 
criminal  in  his  own  community; 

2.  The  readiness  with  which  one  can  change  one's  name- 
nationality  and  residence,  without  positive  discovery,  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  mixture  of  nationalities  in  this  country; 

3.  Political  influence  which  often  interferes  with  justice; 

4.  The  ease  with  which  one  can  be  bailed  out,  for  almost 
any  crime.     It  has  been  impossible  to  get  statistics  of  accused 

53 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

persons,  who,  having  been  bailed  out,  have  preferred  to  lose 
their  bail  money  to  standing  trial  and  the  police  lose  all  trace 
of  them.     Such  statistics  would  be  very  eloquent. 

Besides  these  causes  due  to  the  methods  of  justice  in  the 
United  States,  there  are  others  which  have  their  origin  in  the 
peculiar  conditions  of  the  Italian  colonies.  The  truly  educated 
people  of  Italy  do  not  yet  emigrate  to  the  United  States,  for 
the  reason  that  there  is  a  large  field  of  endeavour  for  them  in 
the  new  Italy,  and  they  leave  emigration  to  the  laborers  and 
to  persons  incapable  of  serious  intellectual  work,  and  yet  un- 
accustomed to  hard  physical  labor.  These  latter,  who  are 
neither  laborers  nor  yet  of  a  class  much  above  the  laborers, 
lend  themselves  easily  to  a  life  of  crime  or  to  some  form  of  ex- 
ploitation of  the  uneducated.  This  does  not  mean  that  among 
the  Italian  immigrants  there  are  not  to  be  found  some  intel- 
lectually strong  and  cultured  people;  of  such  men  there  are 
quite  a  number,  especially  in  large  cities.  These  aid  in  develop- 
ing the  energies  of  the  Italian  laborers,  and  fitly  represent  Italy; 
but  their  influence  on  Italian  colonies  is  very  small,  because  the 
field  is  strongly  held  by  the  noisy  crowd  of  the  pseudo-educated, 
who  as  politicians,  as  bankers,  as  newspapermen,  form  the 
class  prominent  in  business,  as  prominent  in  delinquency.  The 
colonies  are  made  up  chiefly  of  laborers  ignorant  and  frequently 
illiterate.     Oiminals,  therefore,  find  here  an  easy  field. 

The  submissiveness  of  the  victims  and  their  ignorance  of 
the  law  and  customs  of  this  new  country  render  it  impossible 
for  them  to  avail  themselves  of  the  organization  which  society 
offers  them,  to  protect  themselves  from  exploitation  and  criminal 
imposition.  It  is  also  easy  to  find  followers  and  to  initiate  a 
large  number  of  persons  into  a  life  of  crime. 

We  observe  that  the  so-called  blackhand  letters  are  re- 
ceived only  by  the  Italians  themselves.  There  is  no  record 
of  attempted  extortion  of  money  from  Americans  or  people 
of  other  nationalities.  Why  do  so  few  of  these  letters  ever  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  police?  And  why  is  it  so  difficult  to  ob- 
tain testimony  in  dealing  with  these  Italians? 

54 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Miss  Ida  Hull,  in  the  "Charity  Organization  Bulletin," 
of  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  of  December,  1904,  says: 

"The  South  Italian's  distrust  of  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment is  another  trait  which  is  made  more  comprehensible  to 
social  workers  by  a  knowledge  of  the  centuries  of  misrule  and 
social  oppression  from  which  he  has  suffered  deeply.  Deep 
down  in  his  heart  tradition,  and  perhaps  experience,  have  im- 
planted a  distrust  of  the  law  and  the  courts,  and  of  all  connected 
with  them.  Americans  soon  learn  how  difficult  it  is  to  get 
South  Italians  to  go  to  court  as  witnesses  in  cases  of  non-support 
and  cruelty  to  children.  Many  factors  enter  into  this  problem, 
one  of  which  is  undoubtedly  the  feeling  that  courts  are  instru- 
ments of  oppression,  with  which  honest  people  will  not  choose 
to  have  any  connection.  Many  Sicilians  feel  that  only  the  cow- 
ards seek  redress  in  the  courts  for  personal  wrongs.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  suppose  that  all  South  Italians  arrive  with  this 
attitude  towards  the  court,  or  that  all  retain  it  after  a  few  years 
residence.  It  is  a  tradition  which  must  needs  give  way  in  Amer- 
ica and  in  Italy  and  in  any  country  with  democratic  institutions. 
But  it  is  well  for  Americans  to  bear  in  mind,  if  the  law  and  its 
administrators  are  to  be  subjects  of  conversation,  what  a  train 
of  antagonistic  associations,  the  very  words  are  likely  to  arouse 
in  the  minds  of  the  South  Italians." 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  these  observations,  although 
somewhat  exaggerated,  but  the  problem  is  studied  from  only 
one  side,  namely,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  predisposition 
of  a  certain  element  among  the  Italians  to  seek  justice  outside 
of  the  courts.  The  problem,  however,  has  another  aspect, 
much  more  interesting  and  practical,  viz:  the  local  conditions 
that  make  it  possible  and  even  easy  to  develop  such  tendencies. 
Miss  Hull  says  that  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  all 
Italians  who  arrive  with  this  attitude  maintain  the  same  after 
several  years'  residence;  yet  we  are  witnessing  a  very  painful 
fact:  Crimes  which  remain  wrapped  in  mystery,  committed 
by  Italians  in  America,  are  more  numerous  here  proportion- 
ately than  in  Italy. 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

According  to  the  most  recent  Italian  statistics  the  un- 
punished crimes  are  shown  to  be  about  20%;  in  America  the 
percentage  is  larger.  In  Milwaukee,  for  instance,  of  13  crimes 
committed  in  four  years,  in  only  five  were  the  perpetrators 
discovered,  the  other  eight  remaining  unfound.  There  must  be 
a  cause  for  this  aversion  of  the  Italians  to  act  as  witnesses  and 
complainants  in  the  courts,  and  the  cause  is  that  mentioned 
above;  the  facility  with  which  the  criminals  can  assure  them- 
selves immunity.  The  Italians  do  not  like  to  act  as  witnesses 
or  complainants,  not  because  they  fear  the  courts  will  not  mete 
out  justice,  but  because  the  police  and  the  courts  do  not  give 
any  guarantee  of  protection  and  defense  against  the  vengeance 
of  those  whom  they  would  readily  accuse  if  such  a  guaranty 
existed.  The  unpunished  criminal,  who  knows  that  he  has 
been  denounced  by  a  compatriot  of  his,  will  find  a  hundred 
ways  to  avenge  himself;  he  would  perhaps  be  more  ready  to 
forgive  an  American  or  one  of  any  other  nationality,  but  an 
Italian,  Never!  And  the  police  do  not  give  assurance  of  an 
efficacious  protection.  In  Italy  the  severe  law  allowing  arrests 
without  warrant  and  the  fact  that  bail  is  not  accepted,  make 
it  possible  for  the  court  to  obtain  the  witnesses  it  needs  to  con- 
vict a  criminal,  and  make  it  more  difficult  for  the  criminal  to 
escape  punishment.  Rather  than  being  a  question  of  principle 
or  mentality,  it  is  a  question  of  the  organization  of  the  courts 
and  police  system,  which  do  not  perfectly  answer  certain  needs. 
I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  the  American  courts  and  police  sys- 
tem are  defective  in  themselves;  I  merely  wish  to  observe  that 
these  organizations,  although  in  perfect  accord  with  the  funda- 
mental English  traditions  of  democratic  principles  and  per- 
sonal respect,  are  not  always  adapted  to  the  needs,  traditions, 
or  tendencies  of  colonies  within  our  cities,  composed  of  elements 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth.  During  the  period  of  the  Ameri- 
canization of  all  these  various  elements,  it  is  but  logical  and 
natural  that  certain  social  phenomena  should  manifest  them- 
selves in  various  and  often  new  ways.  It  is  the  social  pathology 
of  an  organism  in  the  process  of  formation.  In  such  a  period 
it  seems  also  that  often  the  good  qualities  of  a  race  are  lost  sight 

56 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

of.  For  example:  the  Italians'  contribution  to  cases  of  aban- 
donment is  very  small,  while  this  crime  is  frequent  among 
people  of  other  nationalities;  but  almost  all  cases  of  abandon- 
ment among  the  Italians  are  found  among  Americanized  Italians, 
rather  than  among  the  newly  arrived  Italians.  Furthermore, 
the  majority  of  families  and  individuals  who  have  received 
help  from  public  or  private  charities,  are  those  who  have  had 
many  years  of  residence  in  America,  rather  than  those  recently 
arrived.  Can  we  say  then  that  the  race  is  deteriorating  and  that 
the  descendants  of  the  Italians  will  not  become  as  good  Amer- 
icans as  the  others?  Certainly  not;  the  upheavals  pertaining 
to  the  process  of  adjustment  are  incidents,  and  are  peculiar  to 
all  peoples  under  .similar  circumstances. 

It  is  undeniable  that  Italian  immigrants  are  notable  in 
penal  records  for  offenses  of  personal  violence,  and  stand  out 
prominently  as  having  a  large  percentage  of  homicides  among 
their  crimes;  but  what  Prof.  E.  A.  Steiner  says  in  his  book 
"On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant,"  is  none  the  less  true: 

"Though  the  prisons  contain  many  Italians  who  trans- 
gressed out  of  ignorance  as  well  as  from  passion,  numbers 
suffer  because  they  do  not  know  the  language  of  the  court, 
and  do  not  have  coin  of  the  realm."     (Page  273.) 

The  statement  given  by  the  Report  of  the  Immigration 
Commission  of  1911,  "Immigration  and  Crime,"  (Senate  Docu- 
ments— vol.  18),  is  also  worthy  of  quotation: 

"No  satisfactory  evidence  has  yet  been  produced  to  show 
that  immigration  has  resulted  in  an  increase  in  crime  dispro- 
portionate to  the  increase  in  adult  population.  Immigrants  are 
less  prone  to  commit  crime  than  are  native  Americans.  The 
statistics  do  indicate  that  the  American  born  children  of  immi- 
grants exceed  the  children  of  natives  in  relative  amount  of 
crime."     (Page  1.) 


57 


II. 

PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  CHARITIES 


Xli. 
PUBLIC  CHARITIES 

IT  is  well  known  to  American  people  interested  in  social  topics, 
that  Italian  immigrants  are  not  a  serious  burden  to  public 
institutions  in  this  country.  All  the  statistics  of  such  in- 
stitutions show  that  the  percentage  of  Italian  inmates  of  alms- 
houses, hospitals,  homes  for  children,  and  so  on,  is  less  than  of 
people  of  other  nationalities;  whether  in  the  large  Italian 
colonies  like  New  York,  or  in  the  smaller  ones  like  Milwaukee. 
The  last  report  of  the  Bureau  of  Census,  "Paupers  in 
Almshouses,"  (Depart,  of  Commerce — 1915),  gives  the  follow- 
ing figures  for  the  year  1910. 

At  January  first  of  the  said  year  there  were  in  all  the 
almshouses  of  the  United  States,  77,734  persons,  distributed 
as  follows: 


Paupers  of  native  parentage,  . 
Paupers  of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage, 
Paupers  of  unknown  parentage, 
Paupers  foreign  born,        .        .        .        . 
Paupers  of  unknown  nativity, 


32,458 

10,077 

1,719 

33,125 

355 


Total, 77,734 

The  foreign  born  were  distributed  by  race  as  in  the  follow- 
ing table: 

Austria-Hungary, 1,259 

Canada-English, 1,300 

Canada-French, 528 

England-Wales, 2,922 

France, '^^^ 

59 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


Germany,    . 

7,510 

Ireland, 

14,177 

Italy,    . 

427 

Scandinavia, 

1,891 

Russia, 

700 

Scotland, 

817 

Switzerland, 

513 

Other, 

623 

Total, 

33,125 

Italian  laborers  working  hard  and  living  with  sobriety 
are  always  able  to  save  some  money,  and  if  they  are  single  men, 
they  go  back  to  Italy  to  live  in  their  native  villages,  if  they 
have  families  and  are  established  permanently  in  America, 
when  unable  to  work  and  without  an  income  of  their  own,  they 
are  supported  by  their  sons. 

Furthermore,  the  same  reasons  which  make  Italians 
dislike  American  hospitals,  apply  to  almshouses  and  all  other 
institutions  for  indoor  relief,  among  inmates  of  which  are  only 
a  few  Italians. 

The  annual  report  of  the  County  Hospital,  County  Farm 
and  Almshouse  of  Milwaukee  County  for  the  year  ending  Sept. 
30,  1913,  gives  the  following  figures: 


Inmates  of 

Children's 

Nationalities : 

County  Hospital 

Almshouse 

Free  Hospital 

America    . 

814 

85 

Germany, 

444 

243 

All  Other 

Austria-Hungary,    . 

277 

24 

Nationalities 

England,  . 

40 

10 

582 

Russia, 

89 

3 

Poland,     . 

81 

58 

Ireland,     . 

33 

19 

Italy, 

18 

2 

6 

Various,    . 

88 

18 

Totals, 

1884 

462 

588 

60 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Percentage  of  Italians  in  the  County  Hospitals, 1% 

Percentage  of  Italians  in  Milwaukee  Almshouse, 0.43% 

Percentage  of  Italians  in  the  Children's  Free  Hospital,  .        .        .   1.02% 

While  Italians  are  unwilling  to  ask  for  indoor  relief,  they 
appeal  more  easily  for  outdoor  relief. 

The  said  report,  in  the  Department  of  Outdoor  Relief, 
gives  the  following  figures  for  Milwaukee  County: 

STATISTICAL    REPORT   OF    DEPENDENT    FAMILIES    AIDED 
DURING    THE    YEAR    1913 


Nationality : 

No.  of 
Families 

Number  of  Persons 

America, 

Austria-Hungary,  . 

Germany, 

Poland — Germany, 

Poland — Russia,     . 

Hebrew,  . 

Italy, 

Other  Nationalities, 

410 

88 
273 
229 
49 
36 
62 
38 

Number  of  Men, 
Number  of  Women, 
Number  of  children. 

Total,  .... 

406 
1,167 
4,107 

5,680 

Recurrent  cases,     . 
New  cases, 
Non-resident, 

802 

370 

13 

Totals,      . 

1,185 

1,185 

The  amount  of  expenses  for  that  year  was  $51,785.88. 
Italian  percentage  5.23  per  cent. 

The  number  of  families  aided  by  this  department  has  been 
increasing  every  year  since  1913.  During  the  last  winter, 
because  of  the  lack  of  work,  more  than  double  the  amount 
expended  in  1913,  was  spent  for  outdoor  relief. 

The  poor  list  showing  names,  addresses  and  number  of 
families  drawing  relief  from  the  County  of  Milwaukee  during 
the  month  of  January,  1915,  contains  3,464  families.  Among 
them  215  were  Italians,  6.20  per  cent  of  the  total. 

The  report  does  not  give  any  figures  of  the  causes  of  de- 
pendency of  families  by  nationality,  therefore,  it  is  impossible 


61 


THE    ITALIAN'S    IN    MILWAUKEE 

to  have  further  details  of  the  work  of  the  Department  among 
the  Italians.  It  is  true,  on  the  other  hand,  that  last  winter 
was  very  hard  both  from  cold  and  from  abnormal  conditions 
of  business.  The  rush  of  daily  applications  to  the  office  during 
those  months  made  an  accurate  investigation  of  all  cases  almost 
impossible. 

The  relief  consists  in  food,  shoes,  and  coal.  The  quan- 
tity given  is  in  relation  to  the  size  of  the  family.  A  family  of 
6  persons,  man,  woman  and  four  children,  receives  per 
month  the  following: 


Flour, 

Soap, 

Syrup, 

Fresh  Meat, 

Salt  Meat, 

Lard, 

Coffee,      . 

Tea, 

Sugar, 

Rice, 

Beans, 

Cornmeal, 

Peas, 

Oatmeal, 

Prunes, 

Peaches, 


40  pounds 

3  bars 

4  pounds 
12  pounds 

4  pounds 
2  pounds 

2  pounds 

1  pound 

5  pounds 

3  pounds 

4  pounds 

2  pounds 

2  pounds 

3  pounds 
3  pounds 
1  pound 


The  amount  is  valued  at  SI  1.97. 

The  flour,  soap,  and  fresh  meat  was  given  twice  a  month, 
the  other  food  once  a  month.  About  the  quality  of  food  and 
the  tastes  of  Italians  we  have  spoken  heretofore.  Shoes  were 
given  largely  to  children  attending  schools.  One-half  ton  of 
coal  a  month,  either  hard  or  soft,  was  given  in  many  cases. 

mothers'  pension 

The  "Mothers'  Pension,"  or  "State  Aid  to  Dependent 
Children,"  as  it  is  called  in  Wisconsin,  was  approved  July, 
1913,  and  in  Milwaukee  County  was  put  into  effect  August  1st, 
1913.     The   statement   of   money   expended   from   August    1st, 


62 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


1913,  to  August  1st,  1914,  as  ordered  by  the  Judge  of  the  Juvenile 
Court  of  Milwaukee,  presents  the  following  figures: 


No. 

No.of 

Nationality : 

of 

Aban- 

Di- 

Jail 

Sick- 

^\■id- 

Or- 

Chil- 

Cases 

don' d 

vorc'd 

ness 

ow 

phans 

dren 

American,    . 

9 

4 

1 

4 

26 

Austro-Hungar'n, 

25 

8 

2 

2 

2 

9 

2 

75 

German, 

146 

37 

3 

13 

8 

83 

2 

467 

English, 

8 

2 

1 

1 

1 

3 

24 

Irish,     . 

12 

1 

2 

1 

2 

6 

38 

Polish, 

101 

25 

1 

13 

16 

41 

5 

335 

Jewish, 

12 

3 

9 

41 

Italian, 

12 

4 

8 

50 

Other  Nationalt's, 

10 

1 

2 

2 

5 

22 

Totals, 

335 

81 

11 

31 

35 

168 

9 

1,078 

The  total  amount  paid  to  the  335  families  was  $28,475.58 
— of  which  $1,211.25  went  to  Italian  families;  3.50  per  cent  of 
the  families  aided,  and  4.25  per  cent  of  the  expense  for  aid. 

These  figures  are  eloquent  of  themselves,  and  do  not 
need  any  comment;  therefore  we  go  on,  to  the  most  important 
chapter  of  our  survey,  Private  Charities,  and  the  Italians. 


XIll. 
PRIVATE  CHARITIES 


MUTUAL  BENEFIT  SOCIETIES  AMONG   ITALIANS 

WE  have  secured  information  from  fifteen  Mutual  Benefit 
Societies  organized  among  the  Italians  of  the  Mil- 
waukee colony,  which  help  their  members  in  case  of 
sickness  and  their  families  in  case  of  death  of  the  breadwinner. 
There  are  no  church  societies  in  the  colony  organized  for  the 
purpose  of  looking  after  the  poor,  and  all  the  15  societies  are  of 
laical  character,  though  several  of  them  are  called  after  the 
names  of  Saints  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  following  is  the 
list  of  these  societies: 

1.  Liberta'  Siciliana.  9.  Garibaldi. 

2.  Vespri  Siciliani.  10.  Naso-Capo  d'  Orlando. 

3.  Cristoforo  Colombo.  11.  Trinacria. 

4.  Galileo  Galilei.  12.  Duca  degli  Abbruzzi. 

5.  Vittorio  Emanuele  111.  13.  Tripoli  Italiana. 

6.  San  Giuseppe.  14.  Fratellanza  Toscana. 

7.  Madonna  del  Lume.  15.  Madonna  di  Custonaci. 

8.  Santa  Croce. 

Generally  the  members  of  each  of  these  societies  are 
natives  of  the  same  Italian  province,  and  in  several  cases  of  the 
same  village  or  town,  as  is  the  case  with  "Santa  Croce,"  whose 
members  are  from  the  Santo  Stefano  Camastra  in  Sicily.  The 
number  of  members  enrolled  in  each  society  runs  from  50  to 
150;  therefore  they  do  not  give  as  large  relief  as  they  could 
if  they  had  more  members,  or  if  all  these  societies  were  united 
in  one  federation.  All  of  them  are  organized  on  the  same  plan, 
with  a  few  differences  in  details.  The  staff  consists  of  a  large 
number  of  officials  (12  or  14),  who  are  in  charge  for  one  year, 

64 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

and  without  salary,  except  the  financial  secretary,  to  whom  is 
granted  a  small  compensation  for  extraordinary  services. 

Relief  is  given  by  all  these  societies  after  the  following 
manner: 

1.  Sickness  of  the  Member:     This  relief  begins  after  three 

days  of  sickness  and  after  previous  examination  and  cer- 
tificate from  a  doctor  trusted  by  the  same  society.  The 
relief  is  given  in  cash  at  the  rate  of  $1.00  per  day  for  no 
longer  time  than  three  months.  After  that  time,  the 
relief  is  reduced  one-half,  to  50  cents  daily  for  two  or 
three  months.  After  which,  the  relief  is  cut  off  entirely. 
In  these  cases  almost  all  the  Italian  societies  give  to  the 
sick  member  some  money  ($20.00  or  $25.00),  as  an  extra- 
ordinary contribution,  and  generally  this  money  is  not 
drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  paid  by  members  as  a  per- 
sonal gift. 

2.  Death  of  the  Member:     In  such  case  the  society  pays  all 

funeral  expenses  (from  $50  to  $90),  and  every  member 
makes  an  extraordinary  contribution  of  $2.00  to  the  family 
of  the  dead  member. 

Furthermore,  during  the  sickness  of  the  member,  all  other 
members  of  the  society  are  obliged  to  pay  a  visit  to  him  and  to 
give  him  assistance  if  there  is  no  family  to  take  care  of  him. 
In  case  of  death  all  members  are  obliged  to  attend  the  funeral, 
under  penalty  for  absence. 

relief  is  refused 

1.  When  disease  was  the  consequence  of  crime  or  of  wounds 

received  in  wrongful  fighting; 

2.  In  cases  of  venereal  disease; 

3.  When  the  sick  member  did  not  pay  his  fees  for  three  months 

regularly. 

Fees  paid  by  members  are  very  small;  they  run  from  30 
cents  to  60  cents   monthly.     Extraordinary  contributions  are 

65 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

required  in  case  of  death  or  in  case  of  exhaustion  of  the  society's 
treasury.  The  average  cost  of  the  membership  in  these  Italian 
societies  in  Milwaukee  is  from  $12.00  to  S15.00  a  year. 

Generally  these  societies  have  neither  political  nor  religious 
character,  though  some  of  them  celebrate  every  year  a  religious 
feast,  like  the  Societies  of  Santa  Croce  and  San  Guiseppe.  These 
feasts  are  very  expensive  for  small  societies,  therefore,  they 
collect  money  for  such  a  purpose  from  the  colony,  to  relieve 
the  burden  on  the  society's  treasury.  Other  societies  hold 
annual  picnics  or  dancing  parties,  the  expenses  covered  mostly 
by  the  receipts. 

Besides  the  relief  given  by  these  organized  societies, 
there  are  many  other  forms  of  relief  for  distressed  families 
among  Italians  themselves.  The  most  common  is  the  col- 
lection of  money  among  families  of  the  neighborhood  on  behalf 
of  some  one  in  urgent  distress,  either  from  poverty  or  sickness. 
When  the  case  is  of  one  who  does  not  belong  to  any  society, 
a  collection  is  made  for  the  purpose  of  medical  treatment  or 
transportation  to  Italy.  In  many  cases  the  sick  one  who 
benefits  by  the  money  has  refused  to  go  to  a  hospital  and  is 
in  a  sad  condition  in  consequence.  Money  is  quickly  raised 
in  prosperous  times  by  a  committee  of  three  or  four,  but  even 
in  times  of  general  poverty  a  contribution  of  a  few  cents  is 
rarely  refused. 

Usually  the  spirit  of  mutual  charity  is  well  developed 
among  poor  Italians  of  the  colony,  and  several  visitors  of  chari- 
table associations  have  found  families  dependent  upon  relief 
from  such  associations,  giving  help  to  some  other  family  more 
destitute. 


f'O 


XIV. 
AMERICAN  PRIVATE  CHARITIES  AMONG  ITALIANS 


A — "general  information  from  the  report  of  the 

IMMIGRANT   COMMISSION" 

THE  Report  of  the  Immigration  Commission  for  the  year 
1910  published  an  investigation  on  "Immigrants  as 
Charity  Seekers."  This  study  made  by  the  Commission 
included  the  work  done  by  charity  organization  societies  in 
43  big  cities  of  the  United  States,  during  the  six  months  from 
December,  1908,  to  May,  1909.  It  is  very  interesting  to  quote 
the  figures  given  by  that  report  concerning  the  ItaHans  of  the 
colony  of  Milwaukee,  keeping  them  for  comparison  with  the 
present  status  in  the  same  colony. 

The  following  is  the  general  table  of  cases  of  all  nationalities 
assisted  in  Milwaukee  during  the  said  period: 


Native  Born 

Percentage 

Nationality : 

of  Foreign 

i  oreign 

Totals 

of  I'oreign 

Father 

Born 

Nationalities 

American    native 

born  of  native 

father,          .     48 

48 

English,   . 

35 

14 

49 

7.75 

German,  . 

78 

212 

290 

45.64 

Irish, 

17 

IS 

35 

5.15 

Polish, 

16 

107 

123 

19.42 

Italian,     . 

29 

29 

4.55 

Others,     . 

16 

46 

62 

9.93 

Totals, 

162 

426 

636 

Among  the  43  cities  investigated,  Milwaukee  showed  the 
highest  proportion  of  foreign  born  cases  (67%),  and  also  the 


67 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

highest  proportion  of  cases  among  immigrants  of  the  second 
generation  (25.5%). 

No  case  of  this  latter  class  (the  second  generation)  was 
found  among  Italians,  while  they  contributed  6%  to  the  426 
cases  of  foreign  born,  and  4.55%  of  all  the  cases  assisted  by 
charities.  The  report,  referring  to  the  tables  by  nationalities 
of  cases  assisted,  concludes  as  follows: 

"It  is  seen  that  among  the  races  where  the  head  of  the 
case  was  foreign  born  or  native  born  of  foreign  father,  the  races 
ranking  first,  second  and  third,  in  the  proportion  of  cases  as- 
sisted within  each  geographical  division,  were  as  follows: 

North  Atlantic  Division,  .        .1.     Irish — Foreign  born. 

2.  Polish — Foreign  born. 

3.  German — Foreign  bom. 


North  Central  Division,    .        .1.     German — Foreign  born. 

2.     Polish — Foreign  born. 


3.     German — Native  born  of  German  Father. 


Southern  Division,  .        .1.     German— Foreign  born. 

2.  German — Native  born  of  German  Father. 

3.  Polish — Foreign  bom. 


Western  Division,      .        .        .1.     German — Foreign  born. 

2.  English — Foreign  born. 

3.  Irish — Native  born  of  Irish  Father." 

Italians  are  not  to  be  found  in  that  table,  in  general,  in 
the  investigated  cities  they  rank  after  the  German,  Polish, 
English,  Irish,  and  Slav  nationalities,  in  the  proportion  of 
cases. 

1913 — 1,197,892,  of  which  265,542  were  Italians. 

1914 — 1,218,480,  of  which  283,738  were  Italians. 

The  predominant  racial  element  is  now  the  same  as  in 
1910,  namely,  of  people  of  South  Europe,  with  a  large  propor- 
tion of  Slavs  and  Italians.  On  the  other  hand,  the  economic 
condition  of  the  United  States  up  to  the  close  of  1914  was  not 
unlike  that  of  1910;  therefore,  it  seems  reasonable  to  assume 
that  even  the  general  condition  of  the  immigrants  as  charity 

68 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

seekers,  must  not  be  very  different  from  what  is  shown  in  the 
report  of  1910. 

B — GENERAL    STATISTICS 

This  investigation  includes  the  work  done  with  Italians 
in  Milwaukee,  by  the  Associated  Charities  during  the  four  years 
and  three  months  from  January  1,  1911,  to  March  31,  1915. 
The  annual  reports  of  the  Association  give  the  following  figures, 
showing  its  activity  in  dealing  with  poor  families  of  different 
races  in  Milwaukee: 


Year: 

New  Cases 

Old  Cases 

Total 

1911,         

1912, 

1913, 

1914, 

1915 — January-March,  . 

1,036 
871 
616 

1,194 
941 

535 
854 
699 
779 
1,030 

1,571 
1,725 
1,315 
1,973 
1,971 

Totals, 

4,658 

3,897 

8,555 

Among  the  4658  new  records  of  Milwaukee  families,  we 
find   184  Italian  families,  distributed  as  follows: 


1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

1915 
Jan.-Mch. 

Total 

Percentage 

59 

20 

28 

46 

31 

184 

3.95 

Of  these  184  records,  44  are  of  no  interest,  because  the 
Association  did  not  work  with  the  families,  either  in  giving  re- 
lief or  in  making  an  investigation.  As  these  records  do  not 
give  any  data  about  the  families,  besides  the  name  and  address, 
and  after  a  single  interview  at  the  office  by  the  Registrar,  or  at 
the  residence  by  a  Visitor,  no  conclusion  can  be  reached. 

69 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

The  Italian  families  really  assisted  therefore,  by  the 
Associated  C'.harities  in  the  said  period,  are  140,  to  which  9  other 
cases  reported  from  the  year  1910  must  be  added,  giving  a  total 
of  149  cases. 

The  Italian  percentage  is  as  follows: 


Total  Number  of  Cases: 

Italian 
Cases 

Italian 
Percentage 

New  Cases, 

Old  Cases, 

.      4,658 
.     3,897 

184 
92 

3.95 
2.37 

Totals, 

.     8,555 

276 

3.22 

The  present  percentage  is  lower  than  that  of  1910. 


70 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


C NATIVITY    AND    PROVINCE 

The  total  number  of  cases  in  which  information  of  the 
birthplace  was  secured  is  149.  The  head  of  the  family  was 
foreign  born  in  147  cases,  and  only  in  two  cases  was  native 
born,  of  Italian  father  (immigrant  of  the  second  generation). 

The  table  which  follows  shows  the  cases  assisted  and  the 
number  of  persons  involved,  by  nativity  and  province  of  Italy 
in  which  they  were  born: 


Italian 
Division: 

Italian 
Province 

Number 
of  Cases 

No.  of  Per- 
sons Involved 

Percen 
Cases 

tage  of 
Persons 

Sicily,      .        . 

Palermo 
Messina 
Girgenti 
Unknown 

59 

47 
3 

7 

367 

285 

15 

25 

39.60 
31.54 

1     6.71 

42.62 
33.10 

4.65 

South-Italy,   . 

a 

u 

Bari 

Foggia 

Napoli 

Salerno 

Unknown 

2 
2 
6 
1 
5 

10 
12 
33 
8 
20 

[  10.74 

9.64 

Central-Italy, 

Chieti 
Aquila 
Firenze 
Unknown 

6 
2 
1 
1 

28 
9 
5 
5 

1 

1     6.71 

J 

5.46 

North  Italy,   . 

Venezia 
Geneva 

2 
3 

7 
26 

1     3.36 

3.83 

Native  Born  of 

Italian  Father 

2 

6 

1.34 

0.70 

Totals,     . 

149 

861 

100 

100 

The  average  number  of  persons  in  each  family  by  geo- 
graphical division  is,  in  Sicily,  6;  South  Italy,  5.19;  Central 
Italy,  4.70;  North  Italy,  6.60;  American  born,  of  Italian 
father,  3.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  though  generally  families  of 
North  Italy  have  fewer  children  than  families  from  South 
Italy,  in  this  table  North   Italians  rank  first. 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


D — CAUSES    OF    NEED 


The  classification  of  the  apparent  cause  of  need  has  been 
made  under  fourteen  headings  and  the  following  table  presents 
for  each  class  of  apparent  causes  of  need  the  number  of  cases 
involved: 


9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 


Death  of  l)read\vinner, 14 

Chronic  disease  of  breadwinner,     ...  3 

Death  or  illness  of  another  member  of  family,  42 

Illness  of  bread\vinner, 43 

Continuous  unemployment,    ....  98 

Partial  unemploj^Tnent, 33 

Insufficient  earning  for  the  large  size  of  the 

family, 13 

Incarceration  of  breadwinner,         ...  4 

Desertion  by  husband, 3 

Neglect  by  breadwinner,         ....  2 

Poor  housekeeping, 18 

Bad  habits  of  breadwinner  (laziness),  .  2 

Other, 1 


In  several  cases  there  are  two  or  three  related  causes; 
the  most  common  is  the  coincidence  of  unemployment  and 
disease,  either  of  the  breadwinner  or  of  another  member  of  the 
family.     That  occurs  in  72  cases. 

The  cause  reported  in  the  largest  proportion  of  cases  and 
involving  the  largest  number  of  persons  is  Lack  of  Employment, 
total,  or  partial,  with  insufficient  earnings. 

The  following  table  shows  some  details  of  this  item: 


Unemploy- 
ment 

For  1  or  2 
Months 

For  3  or  4 
Months 

For  5  Mos. 
and  over 

Total 

Percentage 
on  All  Cases 

Continuous 

Unemploym't, 
Partial 

Unemploym't, 

12 

4 

58 
23 

28 
3 

98 
33 

66.66 
22.15 

Total,    . 

16 

94 

31 

121 

81.21 

THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


Further  interesting  figures  on  Unemployment  as  a  cause 
of  distress  are  the  following: 


UNEMPLOYMENT 


As  the  Single  Cause  of  Distress 

In  Concurrence  with  Other  Causes 

Continuous 

Partial 

Continuous 

Partial 

36 

13 

62 

20 

In  the  1910  report  on  "Immigrants  as  Charity  Seekers" 
quoted  above,  the  lack  of  employment  as  a  cause  of  need  is  found 
in  largest  proportion  among  Syrian,  English  and  Italian  races, 
with  the  following  percentage: 

Syrian — Foreign  born, 75 . 4% 

English — Native  born  of  English  Father,          .   68 . 1  % 
ItaUan — Foreign  born, 67.9% 

The  percentage  of  Milwaukee  Italian  cases  is  a  little  lower, 
but  it  is  very  high  if  we  add  all  cases  in  which  unemployment, 
either  continuous  or  partial,  is  either  a  single  or  concurrent 
cause  of  need;  such  percentage  being  81.21  per  cent;  namely, 
121  cases  of  the  total  of  149. 

The  cause  of  need  in  the  two  families  of  native  born  of 
Italian  father,  in  Milwaukee,  is: 

1.  Neglect  of  the  husband  to  provide  for  family  needs; 

2.  Sickness  of  the  wife. 

It  is  worthy  to  be  noted  that  no  case  is  to  be  found  in 
all  these  Italian  records  in  which  the  distressing  condition  of 
the  family  is  due  to  drunkenness  or  intemperance  of  the  bread- 
winner, or  to  old  age. 

In  the  "Report  of  Immigrants  as  Charity  Seekers,"  the 
races   showing   the   largest   proportion   of   cases,    reporting   the 

73 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

bad  habits  and  intemperance  of  the  breadwinner  as  the  cause 
of  distress,  are: 

Polish — Native  of  foreign  father,  34%. 
Swedish — Native  born  of  foreign  father,  29.9%. 

The  Italians  give  the  lowest  figure  of  all  races,  their  per- 
centage being  0.7. 

Old  Age  is  to  be  found  more  often  among  the  races  ranking 
as  follows: 

1.  French.  4.     Irish. 

2.  Canadian.  5.     German. 

3.  Welsh. 


AID    GIVEN 

The  specific  aid  furnished  by  the  Associated  Charities  in 
Milwaukee  to  the  Italian  families  is  shown  in  the  following 
table,  giving  the  proportion  of  cases  assisted.  Many  cases  were 
furnished  with  more  than  one  kind  of  assistance  and  therefore 
appear  under  more  than  one  heading. 


1.  Cash, 

2.  Clothing, 

3.  Eniplo;yTnent  or  work  secured,   . 

4.  Food  or  meals,      .... 

5.  Fuel, 

G.  Lodging, 

7.  Medicine  or  medical  assistance, 

S.  Rent, 

9.  Housekeeping  (help  or  teaching), 

10.  Moral  assistance, 

11.  Other, 


12 

125 

8 

95 

26 

7 

52 

8 

44 

12 

14 


The  amount  of  material  relief  given,  generally  was  small 
in  each  case,  with  the  exception  of  13  cases  which  needed  greater 
assistance. 

Among  the  families  only  three  required  steady  assistance 
for  three  years  or  more,  on  account  of  chronic  disease  of  the 
breadwinner  of  those  families.  In  these  cases  the  Associated 
(Charities  worked   in   co-operation   with   the  Juvenile  Court  of 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Milwaukee  County,  securing  State  Aid  and  supervising  the 
budget  of  the  families,  giving  further  relief  in  food  or  cash  as 
circumstances  required. 

In  all  other  cases  reported  more  than  once,  relief  was  given 
intermittently,  as  new  distressing  conditions  obliged  the  families 
to  call  again  for  further  aid.  Very  small  is  the  number  of  cases 
in  which  work  was  secured,  and  almost  all  consisted  in  sewing 
or  embroidery  work  for  women,  to  be  done  at  home. 

In  every  case  an  employment  card  was  given  to  the  idle 
man,  in  co-operation  with  the  Free  Employment  Bureau  of 
the  State,  but  very  seldom  with  good  results  in  the  1914  and 
1915  period  of  unemployment.  The  giving  of  such  cards,  and 
obliging  those  men  to  go  every  day  to  the  Bureau,  to  have  their 
cards  signed,  was  valuable  only  as  a  means  of  discovering  whether 
men  really  wished  to  work. 

Clothing  is  the  larger  part  of  the  relief  given,  especially 
for  children  in  winter  time.  The  percentage  of  this  form  of 
aid  is  62.7%  of  the  total.  About  60%  of  the  clothes  given 
were  second  hand,  and  in  4  cases  was  refused  by  the  families. 
Food  ranks  second  in  importance  and  amount  of  the  general 
relief,  especially  milk  for  babies  or  other  members  of  families 
during  sickness. 

The  Associated  Charities  works  in  co-operation  with  the 
County  Department  of  Outdoor  Relief,  and  generally  sends 
those  who  need  food  to  the  County  Department;  but  food 
also  has  been  supplied  directly  by  the  Associated  Charities  in 
all  urgent  cases,  and  when  the  food  given  by  the  County  De- 
partment was  insufficient,  on  account  of  the  size  of  the  family, 
or  because  of  illness  of  some  of  its  members. 

Very  considerable  is  the  work  done  in  securing  medical 
assistance,  in  co-operation  with  the  hospitals,  and  free  dis- 
pensaries, and  other  institutions  of  the  city,  like  the  Tubercu- 
losis Department,  Maternity  Hospital,  Visiting  Nurses'  Asso- 
ciation, etc.  The  table  which  follows  shows  the  number  of 
Italians  assisted: 

1.  Hospital  care  secured,  free,  ....  15 

2.  Sent  to  Free  Dispensaries,    .        .        .        .  33 

75 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

3.  Assisted  in  co-operation  with  Tuberculosis 

Department, 9 

4.  Assisted  in  co-operation  with  Maternity 

Hospital, 16 

5.  Assisted  in  co-operation  with  Child  Welfare 

Department, 12 

6.  Medicine  given, 22 

Only  in  a  few  exceptional  cases  was  rent  paid  by  the 
Associated  Charities  in  behalf  of  Italian  families,  though  most 
of  them  made  application  for  it.  In  dealing  with  the  Italians 
the  Associated  Charities  office  believes  that  rent,  like  other 
cash  relief,  ought  to  be  avoided  if  possible,  because  this  form 
of  aid  will  result  in  pauperizing  and  in  creating  a  very  trouble- 
some burden  for  the  Association. 

A  very  valuable  work  was  done  by  the  Visiting  House- 
keeper among  Italians.  In  several  cases  the  Housekeeper  was 
sent  to  substitute  for  the  mother  of  the  family,  especially  in 
cases  of  confinement;  in  other  cases  she  was  sent  to  teach  house- 
keeping to  the  families  in  which  there  was  uncleanliness  and 
disorder,  and  to  assist  steadily  until  a  sufficient  standard  of 
cleanliness  was  reached  in  the  house.  The  housekeeper  has 
been  very  useful  also  in  teaching  the  cooking  of  American 
meals,  and  giving  good  suggestions  for  marketing,  shopping, 
sewing,  etc. 

The  Housekeeper  visited  28  families,  with  an  average  of 
6  visits  to  each  family,  and  her  work  was  very  efficient  in  15 
cases,  less  efficient  in  13. 

Other  relief  in  several  cases  was  the  furnishing  of  beds, 
ice  boxes,  and  other  small  household  utensils. 

F — TYPE  OF  CASES.   PERSONS,  AGE,  CONJUGAL  CONDITION 

The  number  of  persons  involved  in  all  Italian  cases  is 
shown  in  the  table  which  follows: 


76 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


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77 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


All  these  Italian  cases  can  be  classified  under  four  groups 
and  each  can  be  termed  a  "type".     The  groups  are: 

1.  Cases    consisting    of    husband    and    wife    with    or    without 

children; 

2.  Cases  consisting  of  widow  with  or  without  children; 

3.  Cases  consisting  of  widower  with  or  without  children; 

4.  Cases  consisting  of  divorced  or  separated  husbands  or  wives 

with  or  without  children. 

The  number  of  cases  of  each  type  and  the  size  of  each 
family  involved,  is  shown  in  the  following  table: 


Type: 

No 
Children 

1  or  2 
Children 

3,  4  or  5 
Children 

6  or  more 
Children 

Total 

First  Group, 
Second  Group,  . 
Third  Group, 
Fourth  Group,   . 
Both  Parents 
Dead, 

3 
1 

36 
3 

1 
1 

57 
4 

1 
3 

30 

7 

1 
1 

126 

14 

2 

5 

1 

Totals,     . 

4 

41 

65 

39 

149 

The   table  which  follows,   shows  all   persons   involved   in 
the  cases  of  Italians  assisted,  with  the  age  grouping: 


AGE  OF  CHILDREN 


Under  14 

14  and  over.  Unmarried 

14  and  over,  Married 

502 

52 

28 

AGE  OF  PARENTS 


20  and  Under 

From  21  to  39 

From  40  to  59 

60  and  over 

UnknowTi 

Men 

Worn. 

Men     Worn. 

Men 

Wom. 

Men 

Wom . 

Men 

Worn. 

7 

80 

111 

48 

23 

6 

4 

78 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 


The  861  persons  involved,  are  distributed  as  follows: 

Children, 582 

Women, 145 

Men, 134 


G — GENERAL    OCCUPATION 

The  following  table  shows  the  occupation  of  the  head  of 
each  family,  in  Italy  first,  and  in  America  now: 


Agriculturists, 
Fishermen, 
Laborers, 
Peddlers, 
Garbage  Collectors 
Saloonkeepers, 
Grocers, 
Shoemakers,  . 
Carpenters, 
Tailors,  . 
Blacksmith,  . 
Sculptor  in  Plaster 
Marble  Cutter, 
Physically  unfit, 
UnknowTi, 

Totals,     . 


In  Italy 
98 
18 
6 


134 


In  America 


114 
4 
2 
1 
1 
3 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 

134 


The  persons  involved  in  all   149  cases  investigated,  are 
classified  in  three  groups,  as  follows: 


At  Work 

At  School 

At  Home 

Totals 

Children, 
Women,  . 
Men, 

23 

9 

132 

321 

238 

136 

2 

582 
145 
134 

Totals, 

1G4 

321 

376 

861 

79 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 
H — YEARS    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Among  these  Italian  families  assisted  by  charities,  not 
one  case  is  to  be  found  with  less  than  two  years  of  residence 
in  the  United  States.  The  table  shows  the  specified  number 
of  years  of  residence  of  each  family,  both  in  the  United  States 
and  in  the  City  of  Milwaukee: 

IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


From  2  to 
3  Years 

From  4  to 
5  Years 

From  5  to 
10  Years 

From  11  to 
15  Years 

More  Than 
15  Years 

4 

18 

41 

45 

34 

IN  MILWAUKEE 

Less  Than  5  Years 

5  Years  and  More 

Unknown 

47 

95 

7 

The  largest  proportion  of  Italian  cases  is  from  those 
families  who  have  lived  in  the  United  States  10  to  15  years. 
Among  those  who  have  lived  here  more  than  15  years,  the  pro- 
portion of  cases  is  also  very  considerable.  In  general  it  is  evi- 
dent that  for  the  Italian  families,  the  coming  of  distressing  con- 
ditions does  not  immediately  follow  their  arrival  in  America, 
but  follows  after  3  or  4  years  of  residence.  In  explanation  of 
this,  most  of  the  Italian  immigrants  come  to  America  alone; 
being  single,  they  live  upon  a  few  cents  daily,  and  though  with- 
out work  for  months,  they  never  fall  to  the  charge  of  public 
charity;  even  if  they  do  not  find  work  as  soon  as  they  arrive, 
they  do  not  starve,  because  they  generally  bring  some  money 
on  which  they  live  for  several  months.  During  the  fiscal  year 
ending  June  30,  1914,  the  Italian  immigrants  had  at  their 
arrival,   money   amounting   to  S7,887.78    (figure  given   by   the 


80 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

"Report  of  Immigrant  Commission  Labor  Dept.,  1914);  but 
as  the  same  report  observes,  the  true  amount  of  money  brought 
by  Italians  is  really  much  more,  because  generally  the  Italian 
immigrants,  suspicious  as  they  are,  do  not  show  all  the  money 
they  have  with  them. 

After  two  or  three  years  of  hard  v^ork,  those  Italians  who 
left  wife  and  children  in  their  native  country,  call  them,  and 
spend  for  that  purpose  all  their  savings.  Afterwards,  the  care 
of  wife  and  children  makes  living  more  expensive,  and  their 
savings  are  small  accordingly.  During  long  periods  of  no  work, 
or  of  disease,  they  are  obliged  to  call  on  charitable  institutions, 
especially  if,  as  very  usually  happens,  the  size  of  the  family  in- 
creases every  year.  In  many  cases  of  this  kind  the  family's 
condition  changes  only  after  14  or  15  years,  when  sons  and 
daughters  come  to  working  age  and  help  their  parents.  In 
other  cases,  when  the  size  of  the  family  is  not  too  large,  after 
several  years  of  useless  struggle,  they  become  tired  and  go  back 
to  Italy.  That  explains  the  fact  that  among  families  with  more 
than  IS  years  of  residence  in  America,  the  percentage  of  charity 
cases  decreases,  also  that  among  persons  involved  in  such  cases, 
very  rarely  is  to  be  found  any  one  over  55  or  60  years  of  age. 

ABILITY    TO    SPEAK    ENGLISH    AND    CITIZENSHIP 

When  we  know  that  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  is  about 
45%  in  the  last  statistics,  and  when  we  consider  that  the  Sicilian 
immigrants  in  Milwaukee  belong  to  the  lower  classes,  we  may 
suppose  that  the  average  of  illiteracy  will  be  about  50%.  It  is 
interesting  to  notice  that  illiteracy  is  prevalent  among  immi- 
grants, older  than  25  years,  and  among  men  more  than  among 
women.  Compulsory  education  in  South  Italy  is  becoming 
efficacious  and  in  a  few  years  illiteracy  will  disappear  entirely 
from  Sicily  as  it  did  from  North  Italy. 

Detailed  references  are  found  in  the  Associated  Charities 
records  about  the  ability  to  speak  English  in  investigated  fam- 
ilies. The  table  which  follows,  shows  the  proportion  of  families 
in  which  one  or  both  parents  born  in  Italy  were  speaking  English. 

81 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

Under  the  heading  "Speaking  English"  are  grouped  those  who 
have  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language  limited  to  their  prac- 
tical needs,  hut  enough  to  permit  investigation,  without  an  in- 
terpreter. Under  "Little  English"  are  grouped  those  who 
know  some  English  words,  but  where  an  interpreter  was  neces- 
sary to  deal  with  them: 

Speak  English, 29 

Little  EngUsh, 32 

No  English, 86 

Native  born, 2 

Total, 149 

Data  relative  to  Citizenship  is  found  only  in  a  few  cases, 
and  their  number  is  very  small  in  comparison  with  the  total 
number  of  families  dealt  with.  Only  in  14  cases  is  it  noted 
that  the  head  of  the  family  had  both  papers  of  naturalization; 
in  12  cases  only  the  first  papers  were  obtained,  in  all  other  cases 
no  information  is  given. 

It  is  remarkable  that  in  three  cases  the  head  of  the  family 
who  had  obtained  his  naturalization  paper  and  full  citizenship 
of  the  United  States,  confessed  himself  to  be  entirely  illiterate. 


82 


APPENDIX 


ITALIANS  ON  FARMS 


FARM    HAND    IN    THE    OLD    COUNTRY 

FARMING  in  Sicily  is  conducted  on  a  very  different  basis 
than  in  America.  There  the  large  land  owner  (feudi  or 
tenuta)  or  renter,  gives  out  his  land  to  the  poor  people  to 
be  cultivated  on  shares.  Usually  he  pays  the  taxes,  furnishes 
seeds  and  stock,  and  sometimes  groceries  and  wine  to  the  work- 
men and  takes  as  his  share  half  of  the  crops  and  all  the  by-pro- 
ducts. The  dairying  and  poultry  department  is  operated  by 
special  employes  for  the  profit  of  the  owner.  Varying  according 
to  the  size  of  the  tract,  many  hundred  people  are  employed  on 
each  "feudo  or  tenuta,"  each  one  of  them  working  on  a  tract 
of  land  set  aside  for  him  and  his  family.  Generally  there  is 
only  a  large  building  or  aggregation  of  buildings  on  these  lands. 
There  the  land  owner  or  renter  has  his  office,  there  are  the  crop 
stores,  the  stables  and  the  dairy  and  poultry  departments. 

The  workingmen  sleep  in  these  buildings  during  the  winter 
time,  when  the  work  is  going  on,  as  the  village  where  they  have 
their  families  and  homes  usually  is  too  far  away  to  permit  them 
to  come  and  go  every  day.  In  this  case  they  return  to  the 
town  every  Saturday  night,  and  Monday  morning  they  go  back 
to  their  work.  During  the  harvesting  and  summer  time  they 
take  their  wives  and  children  along  and  often  sleep  under  tent 
on  the  piece  of  land  they  have  been  working. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  small  land  owner,  whose  land  is 
always  within  walking  distance  from  towns  and  villages,  culti- 
vates the  land  himself  and  lives  in  the  town,  or  if  he  is  a  well-to-do 
citizen,  he  gets  his  help  by  day  or  by  week,  and  pays  for  it  by 
day  or  by  week.     There  is  not  such  a  thing  in  the  interior  of 

83 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

South  Italy  and  Sicily  as  a  farm  hand  living  with  the  farmer's 
family,  sharing  his  home  and  meals;  and,  as  my  personal  knowl- 
edge and  experience  has  taught  me,  the  few  Italians  employed 
by  American  farmers  appreciate  this  difl'erence  in  treatment 
and  in  consequence  are  greatly  affected  by  it,  to  their  moral 
and  physical  betterment.  The  only  thing  they  object  to,  es- 
pecially on  starting,  are  the  American  meals,  but  I  have  yet  to 
encounter  one  who  left  his  place  for  this  reason  alone. 

ITALIAN    AND    AMERICAN    FARMING 

A  large  number  of  young  Italians  are  willing  to  take  up 
farm  work,  especially  in  hard  times,  when  there  is  very  little 
work  in  factories.  Last  year  in  a  few  weeks  campaign  1  had 
many  hundreds  of  applications  for  farm  work  from  Milwaukee 
and  nearby  colonies.  I  placed  many  of  them  and  from  the 
letters  received  from  the  farmers,  1  have  concluded  that  the 
results  could  not  be  better.  I  placed  them  on  a  contract  of 
three  months,  but  many  of  them  are  working  up  to  today  in 
the  same  places  and  they  write  that  they  do  not  wish  to  come 
back. 

I  had  an  advertisement  running  for  four  v/eeks  in  the 
"Wisconsin  Agriculturist,"  and  received  hundreds  of  applica- 
tions from  farmers. 

The  number  of  applications  received,  shows  plainly  that 
the  prejudice  against  Italians  on  the  part  of  American  farmers 
is  exaggerated.  They  were  glad  to  get  Italian  help  and  in  many 
cases  treat  them  as  members  of  the  family. 

I  think  the  best  result  can  be  obtained  from  married  couples 
with  children;  the  only  objection  being  the  number  of  children. 
Usually  when  a  farmer  wants  a  married  couple,  he  wants  them 
without  children,  or  with  not  more  than  one  or  two  children. 
The  average  Italian  families  have  five  or  six  children. 

COLONIZATION 

The  unimproved  land  of  North  Wisconsin  should  be  a  very 
good  region  in  which  to  place  settlers.     The  Cumberland  colony 

84 


THE    ITALIANS    IN    MILWAUKEE 

is  an  example  of  a  successful  Italian  settlement.  The  South 
Italians  are  especially  adapted  to  country  life  and  they  would 
be  willing  to  start  their  life  in  this  country  on  farms  if  the  way 
were  made  clear  for  them.  Small  farms  or  truck  gardens  near 
good  markets  are  their  specialty. 

There  are  many  things  necessary  to  bring  about  a  proper 
colonization  of  Italian  farmers.  First  of  all  is  financial  aid, 
and  then  an  appreciation  and  thorough  understanding  of  the 
merits  and  the  faults  of  this  people. 

A  practical  scheme  is  the  following: 

1.  Set  aside  1,000  acres  of  land  near  a  good  market;    divide 

the  land  in  40  acre  tracts;  build  on  each  a  small  house 
and  a  small  barn  (a  log  house  would  do),  place  one  family 
in  each  house,  furnishing  them  with  two  horses,  two  or 
more  cows,  a  few  pigs,  and  chickens.  Receive  from  each 
family  SlOO  or  more,  if  they  have  it,  as  a  cash  payment, 
and  give  them  credit  for  groceries  in  a  nearby  general 
store. 

2.  In  subsequent  years  half  of  the  crops  would  go  to  pay  for 

the  land  and  stock  furnished;  the  other  half  to  be  left  to 
the  farmers,  to  dispose  of  for  their  needs,  and  so  on,  until 
the  price  of  the  land  and  interest  are  paid. 


85 


V 


